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A   BIOGRAPHY 


EDITED    BY 

EDWIN    FRANCIS    EDGETT 


$ubUtation£  of  €f>e  SDunlap g&ocietp*  j^etD  £erie£  &o.  14* 
$dDgorft,  1901. 


X 


This  is  one  of  an  edition  of  two  hundred  and 
sixty-five  copies  printed  from  type  for  the  Dunlap 
Society  in  the  month  of  October,  1901. 


EDWARD  LOOMIS  DAVENPORT 


»»*« 


EDWARD  LOOMIS 
DAVENPORT 


EDITED   BY 

EDWIN  FRANCIS  EDGETT 


i »'  • « 


NEW-YORK 

THE  DUNLAP  SOCIETY 

1901 


Copyright  by 

Edwin  Francis  Edgett 

1901 


PREFACE 

THE  basis  of  this  brief  biography  of  Edward 
Loomis  Davenport  is  a  manuscript  that  has 
been  in  existence  twenty  years  or  more.  It  was 
discovered  among  the  papers  of  the  late  Fanny 
Davenport,  and  had  evidently  been  secured  by  her 
from  its  writer  with  the  intention  of  revision  and 
publication.  When  it  came  into  the  hands  of  the 
editor  of  this  volume,  it  was  hoped  that  it  could  be 
prepared  for  the  press  with  but  slight  excision 
and  alteration.  A  careful  examination,  however, 
showed  that  its  matter  and  manner  made  it  impos- 
sible of  publication  in  anything  approaching  the 
original  form.  It  was  therefore  used  simply  as  a 
storehouse  of  biographical  material,  and  was  drawn 
upon  only  when  absolutely  necessary.  Some  of 
the  facts  in  this  volume,  a  number  of  newspaper 
extracts,  and  a  few  anecdotes  are  taken  from  the 
manuscript;  for  the  rest  of  his  material,  the  pres- 
ent editor  has  searched  elsewhere.  |His  chief  re- 
gret is  that  he  has  discovered  so  little,  and  that  as 
a  whole  he  has  done  scant  justice  to  his  distiry 
guished  subject.  The  result  of  his  work  is  more 
in  the  nature  of  a  biographical  sketch  than  of  a 
ix 


M70839 


completed  biography.  But  whatever  its  shortcom- 
ings, it  brings  into  collected  form,  for  the  first 
time,  the  principal  events  in  the  career  of  an  actor 
whose  work  has  too  long  remained  unrecorded. 
Some  day  an  exhaustive  critical  account  of  his 
life  may  be  written  upon  the  foundation  of  the  fol- 
lowing pages.  \Eor  the  present  this  attempt  at  a 
biography  must  sufficeA 

Editorial  Rooms  of 

Boston  Evening  Transcript, 

September  21,  1901. 


^1  ib  JbV 


EDWARD   LOOMIS    DAVENPORT 


A  BIOGRAPHY 


Ctitoarti  iUomts  Batoenpott 


A   BIOGRAPHY 


9      >»»        J.     • 


CHAPTER  !•  •'••••> 

THE  life  of  an  actor  who  for  forty  years  held 
an  influential  and  a  commanding  position  on 
the  American  stage  deserves  enduring  record.  Yet 
the  renown  of  Edward  Loomis  Davenport  at  the 
present  moment,  almost  a  generation  after  his 
death,  lives  only  in  the  memory  of  playgoers  of  his  ^> 
own  time.  The  biographies  of  other  American 
actors,  and  the  universal  testimony  of  his  contem- 
poraries, show  that  he  ranked  among  the  great 
figures  of  the  American  theatre.  During  his  long 
career  upon  the  stage  he  acted  both  in  America 
and  in  England,  he  supported  prominent  actors, 
he  headed  his  own  company,  he  was  the  manager 
of  several  theatres,  and  he  was  a  member  of  stock 
companies  under  the  management  of  others.  He 
was  as  well  known  in  San  Francisco  as  in  Boston, 


%  2ftograpf>p  of 


which  was  his  native  city.  Many  actors  are  said 
to  be  versatile,  whereas  their  versatility  merely 
consists  in  their  ability  to  act  certain  varying  char- 
acters without  giving  offense  in  any  of  them.  Mr. 
Davenport's  versatility,  however,  was  of  different 
kind  from  this.  He  was  a  tragedian,  a  comedian, 
a  farceur,  a  mimic,  a  possessor  of  almost  every 
talent  which  goes  to  the  making  of  a  dramatic 
genius.  He  could  act  Othello,  and  William  in 
"Black-eyed  Susan"  not  merely  with  equal  ability 
and  equal/.y  well.  Many  an  actor  has  done  that. 
But  he  could  act  both  those  characters,  and  many 
hundreds  more,  in  a  manner  which  showed  that  he 
had  a  perfect  command  of  dramatic  effect  as  ex- 
pressed by  means  of  his  own  individuality.  Mem- 
bers of  his  own  profession,  as  well  as  the  general 
public,  vied  with  each  other  in  their  enthusiasm 
over  his  acting.  The  wide  range  of  his  power,  the 
unlimited  scope  of  his  ambition  to  do  all  things, 
the  restless  energy  of  a  temperament  which  did 
not  allow  him  to  concentrate  his  energies  upon  the 
j  really  great  characters  in  the  English  drama,  th& 
lack  of  foresight  which  led  him  to  combine  man-J  •* 
agement  with  acting,  all  resulted  in  diffusing  not 
merely  his  genius,  but  also  his  reputation.  While 
he  lived  his  fame  was  secure,  but  only  while  he 
lived.  He  could  not  realize  that,  with  all  his  ver- 
satility and  genius,  he  was  building  up  so  evanes- 
cent a  reputation.  The  public  of  his  time  had  its 
moods,  and,  like  every  actor,  he  had  his  days  of 


<£Dtoarb  £oomi£  SDabmpott  5 

sunny  prosperity  and  cloudy  adversity  closely  in- 
termingled. Yet,  during  his  forty  years  of  public 
life  he  was  by  many  uninterruptedly  admired  and 
honored,  and  that  admiration  and  honor  have  con- 
tinued till  now.  His  name  stands  beside  the  names 
of  the  Booths,  of  Forrest,  of  the  Jeffersons,  and  of 
Cushman  in  the  minds  of  all  who  saw  him.  The 
contemporary  records  of  his  time  attest  the  quality 
and  the  solidity  of  his  reputation.  It  remains  for 
these  pages  to  gather  the  scattered  memorials  of  a 
long,  ambitious,  and  notable  career,  and  to  preserve 
them  in  permanent  form  for  the  service  of  pos- 
terity. 

Among  the  innkeepers  of  Boston  during  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  Asher 
Davenport.  For  a  short  period  he  was  interested 
in  a  business  way  in  one  of  the  Boston  play-houses, 
but  there  was  nothing  either  in  his  personal  in- 
clinations or  in  his  business  associations  which 
connected  him  in  any  serious  fashion  with  the 
theatre  and  its  people.  At  his  inn  on  Elm  Street, 
in  exactly  that  portion  now  cut  through  by  Wash- 
ington Street,  was  born  the  son  who,  through  him- 
self and  his  children,  was  destined  to  make  the 
Davenport  name  famous  in  American  theatrical  an- 
nals. He  was  christened  Edward  Loomis  Daven- 
port, and  the  date  of  his  birth  was  November  15, 
181 5.  The  record  of  his  boyhood  indicates  no  pre- 
cocious talent  for  the  stage,  although  while  attend- 
ing school  in  New  Haven,  whither  the  family  had 


%  2&00taj>l)p  of 


temporarily  removed,  he  won  a  portion  of  local  and 
school-boy  fame  as  a  declaimer  and  reader.  In 
after  years,  when  Mr.  Davenport  had  gained  the 
deserved  honors  of  his  profession,  his  master  would 
frequently  recall  to  his  mind  the  triumphant  man- 
ner in  which  he  had  many  times  recited  "Alexan- 
der's Feast" ;  and  whenever  the  starring  tours  ex- 
tended to  Hartford,  old  Mr.  Lovell  was  sure  of  a 
kindly  invitation  to  witness  his  former  pupil's 
interpretations  of  Othello,  Hamlet,  Benedick,  Sir 
Giles  Overreach,  and  a  dozen  other  roles.  Upon 
returning  to  Boston,  young  Davenport  resumed 
attendance  at  the  Mayhew  School,  and  while  still 
a  pupil  there,  at  about  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  be- 
came more  or  less  conspicuous  as  the  "leading 
man"  of  a  juvenile  stock  company  which  gave 
performances  in  an  improvised  theatre  situated  on 
Sudbury  Street.  Here  he  made  the  beginnings  of 
his  successful  career  as  an  actor,  performing  many 
favorite  characters  then  prominent  in  the  reper- 
tories of  aspiring  amateurs.  The  youthful  man- 
agers of  this  play-house  made  no  fixed  charge  for 
admission,  but  a  box  placed  at  the  door  begged  all 
patrons  to  "remember  the  poor."  Who  the  "poor" 
were  is  not  stated.  Before  he  had  reached  his  six- 
teenth year  his  school-days  were  finished,  his  ef- 
forts to  obtain  the  coveted  Franklin  medal  failing 
solely  because  his  penmanship  was  not  up  to  the 
Boston  standard  of  grace  and  legibility. 
His  first  attempt  at  a  business  career  was  made 


<£btoa?b  ltoomt£  HPatontpott*  7 

in  a  wholesale  dry-goods  house,  and  although  the 
work  was  not  uncongenial  in  itself,  he  soon  found 
that  his  tastes  led  him  far  away  from  day-books 
and  ledgers.  He  was  already  looking  longingly 
toward  the  stage.  A  play-book  was  his  constant 
companion.  With  a  pen  in  one  hand  and  the  most 
popular  play  of  the  day  in  the  other,  he  managed 
to  drag  out  an  uncomfortable  existence  of  two 
years.  To  confide  his  ambitions  to  his  parents 
would  have  been  useless.  As  time  passed  on,  his 
desire  for  the  stage  increased  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
From  the  dry-goods  trade  he  had  turned  to  the 
confectionery  business,  and  from  the  exacting  du- 
ties of  this  work  he  managed  to  find  a  few  hours 
weekly  in  which  to  indulge  his  passion  for  acting. 
With  Edwin  H.  Chapin,  later  a  celebrated  Uni- 
versalist  clergyman,  and  John  P.  Addams,  after- 
ward a  well-known  actor,  he  became  a  member  of 
the  Siddonian  Dramatic  Club.  Of  his  efforts  at 
this  period  few  records  remain,  but  it  is  certain 
that  he  was  personally  popular  among  his  asso- 
ciates for  the  generosity  of  his  nature  and  the  up- 
rightness of  his  character.  His  judgment  and 
opinions  were  invariably  called  upon  and  had  im- 
portant weight  in  the  decision  of  any  mooted  ques- 
tion. After  spending  a  short  period  in  Lynn  as 
clerk  of  a  hotel  managed  by  an  elder  brother,  he 
returned  to  Boston  and  was  employed  by  his  father 
at  the  Exchange  Coffee  House  on  Devonshire 
Street.    It  was  at  this  house  that  Edwin  Forrest 


■y 
%  2&iogra*>!)p  of 


was  wont  to  make  his  headquarters  when  profes- 
sional engagements  called  him  to  Boston. 

But  the  young  aspirant  was  still  far  from  happy. 
His  determination  to  become  an  actor  remained  as 
firm  as  ever,  and  the  years  added  to  his  youth 
merely  added  an  incentive  to  his  unfulfilled  desires. 
His  father  refused  to  listen  to  any  projects  which 
would  make  the  ambitious  son  an  actor.  At  last 
his  coming  of  age  found  him  firmly  resolved  to 
wait  no  longer.  Aided  by  the  good  offices  of  a 
brother,  he  called  upon  George  H.  Barrett,  at  that 
time  a  member  of  the  stock  company  at  the  Tre- 
mont  Theatre,  and  through  his  influence  was  en- 
gaged to  play  small  parts  in  support  of  the  elder 
Booth,  who  was  then  acting  at  Providence.  Noth- 
ing could  have  given  him  greater  satisfaction,  and 
it  was  with  a  glad  heart  that  he  left  Boston  and 
prepared  to  take  his  first  step  in  the  profession 
which  had  been  the  acme  of  his  boyhood  longings. 

It  was  in  1836  that  young  Davenport  began  his 
career  as  a  professional  actor.  Under  the  assumed 
name  of  "Mr.  Dee,"  he  appeared  at  the  old  Lion 
Theatre,  or  Brick  Circus,  in  Providence,  as  Parson 
Willdo  in  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts,"  to 
the  Sir  Giles  Overreach  of  Junius  Brutus  Booth. 
In  the  cast  with  him  were  David  Ingersoll  as  Well- 
born and  George  F.  Browne  as  Tapwell.  His  suc- 
cess promised  much  for  the  future,  but  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  the  young  actor  dared  dream  of  the  time 
when  he  himself  would  become  the  Sir  Giles  Over- 


<£t»toarb  fioomi£  SDatontport  9 

reach  of  the  American  stage.  Although  Massin- 
ger's  play  is  now  unknown  except  to  the  student 
of  the  Elizabethan  drama,  its  popularity  as  an 
acting  play  lasted  well  into  the  third  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Its  leading  character  had  been 
acted  by  John  Henderson,  by  John  Philip  Kemble, 
by  George  Frederick  Cooke,  by  Edmund  Kean,  as 
well  as  by  the  elder  Booth.  William  Hazlitt  con- 
sidered Kemble's  Sir  Giles  Overreach  a  contempti- 
ble piece  of  acting,  saying  that  he  must  have  been 
thrust  into  the  part  against  his  will,  but  of  Kean 
he  had  quite  another  tale  to  tell.  Kean  first  played 
the  part  in  January,  1816,  and  Hazlitt  wrote  im- 
mediately thereafter  in  the  "Examiner" :  "We 
cannot  conceive  of  any  one's  doing  Mr.  Kean's 
part  of  Sir  Giles  Overreach  so  well  as  himself. 
We  have  seen  others  in  the  part,  superior  in  the 
look  and  costume,  in  hardened,  clownish,  rustic  in- 
sensibility ;  but  in  the  soul  and  spirit,  no  one  equal 
to  him.  He  is  a  truly  great  actor.  This  is  one  of 
his  very  best  parts.  He  has  not  a  single  fault."  * 
Much  the  same  was  said  in  later  days  of  Mr.  Dav- 
enport's acting  as  Sir  Giles.  But  in  his  first  ap- 
pearance on  the  stage  he  had  to  content  himself 
with  the  few  brief  lines  allotted  to  Parson  Willdo 
in  the  final  act  of  the  play. 

A  week  later  the  young  actor  made  a  bold  cast 
of  the  die,  and  appeared  at  New  Bedford  in  the 

1  "Criticisms    and    Dramatic    Essays    of    the    English 
Stage."     By  William  Hazlitt.     London,  1851.     Page  235. 
2 


io  %  2&ograjrt>p  of 


character  of  Young  Norval.  To  this  performance 
he  brought  all  the  energy  of  his  youth  and  a  de- 
termination to  win  at  all  hazards.  His  popularity 
was  assured.  His  novitiate  was  over  almost  be- 
fore it  had  begun.  He  next  appeared  at  the  Tre- 
mont  Theatre  in  Boston,  and  remained  there  an 
entire  season,  playing  general  utility  and  some- 
times more  responsible  parts.  An  engagement  of 
several  seasons  at  the  Walnut  Street  Theatre  in 
Philadelphia  followed.  To  illustrate  the  thorough- 
ness with  which  the  young  actor  portrayed  every 
character  assigned  to  him,  and  to  show  the  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held  by  visiting  stars,  the  follow- 
ing story  is  pertinent.  Edwin  Forrest  on  a  pre- 
vious occasion  had  played  Richelieu,  and  Mr.  Dav- 
enport had  been  cast  for  Joseph.  Venturing  a  de- 
parture from  the  traditional  methods  of  presenting 
the  character,  he  had  represented  the  priest  in 
bare  limbs.  So  much  was  Mr.  Forrest  pleased 
with  his  subordinate's  originality  and  with  his  act- 
ing of  the  character  that  upon  his  return  to  the 
Walnut  Street  Theatre  he  said  to  the  manager: 
"Cast  Davenport  for  Joseph;  fix  the  rest  as  you 
like." 

In  Ireland's  "Records  of  the  New  York  Stage" 
the  9th  of  August,  1843,  is  given  as  the  date  of 
Mr.  Davenport's  first  appearance  in  that  city.  It 
is  probable,  however,  that  he  had  appeared  there 
before,  but  the  date  thus  set  down  may  be  taken 
as  the  starting-point  of  his  reputation  in   New 


<£btuarb  Itoomis  SDabcnport.         « » 

York.  On  this  occasion  he  played  Frederick  Fits- 
alien  in  "He  's  not  Amiss"  at  Niblo's  Theatre; 
on  the  1 6th  of  August  he  is  recorded  as  play- 
ing Baudon  in  "Military  Manoeuvres";  on  the 
19th,  Archard  in  "Mile.  D'Angerville" ;  on  the 
23d,  the  Golden  Farmer  in  the  play  of  that  name, 
to  John  Sefton's  Jemmy  Twitcher.  On  the  27th 
of  the  following  December  he  made  his  debut 
at  the  Bowery  Theatre  under  the  management 
of  Thomas  S.  Hamblin,  and  at  once  became  one 
of  the  most  popular  players  at  that  house  of  popu- 
lar favorites.  On  this  particular  evening  John 
Howard  Payne's  "Brutus"  was  given  for  the. bene- 
fit of  the  manager.  In  it  Mr.  Davenport  acted 
the  part  of  Titus,  and  he  further  added  to  the  even? 
ing's  entertainment  by  singing  a  nautical  song  be- 
tween the  two  pieces  on  the  programme.  The 
next  fall  N.  H.  Bannister's  "Putnam ;  or,  the  Iron 
Son  of  '76"  was  produced,  and  in  it  Mr.  Davenport 
had  the  Yankee  part  of  Major  Sapling.  This  play 
had  the  long  run  in  those  days  of  seventy-eight 
consecutive  performances,  and  it  was  furthermore 
revived  repeatedly.  In  January  Mr.  Davenport 
appeared  in  "Old  Heads  and  Young  Hearts"  as 
Littleton  Coke,  with  John  R.  Scott  as  Jesse  Rural 
and  J.  B.  Booth,  Jr.,  as  Tom  Coke.  For  the  25th 
of  April,  1845,  his  benefit  was  advertised,  and  he 
was  to  appear  as  Marchmont  in  "Robin  Hood," 
Hezekiah  Pokeabout  in  "Everybody's  Mess,"  and 
as  Ben  the  Boatswain.    The  theatre  took  fire  that 


12  %  2&ograp!>p  of 


: 


evening  just  before  the  doors  were  opened,  and 
was  entirely  destroyed.  The  company  thereafter 
played  at  the  Bowery  Amphitheatre,  formerly  the 
Zoological  Institute.  It  is  said  that  on  one  occa- 
sion he  even  sang  Thaddeus  in  "The  Bohemian 
Girl,"  and  that  he  acquitted  himself  creditably. 

At  Niblo's  Garden,  on  July  14,  1845,  Mr.  Daven- 
port appeared  as  Beauseant  in  "The  Lady  of  Ly- 
ons" in  support  of  Mrs.  Mowatt,  the  actress  with 
whom  he  was  to  assume  a  year  later  the  position 
f  leading  man.  In  this  performance  Claude  Mel- 
notte  was  acted  by  W.H.Crisp,  and  Colonel  Damas 
by  William  H.  Chippendale.  When  the  new  Bow- 
ery Theatre  was  opened,  on  August  4,  1845,  Mr. 
Davenport  resumed  his  position  as  a  leading  actor 
at  that  house,  appearing  as  Sir  Adelbert  in  "The 
Sleeping  Beauty"  and  Charles  in  "Charles  II." 
During  the  season  he  played  a  great  many  different 
characters,  and  became  more  popular  than  ever. 
"The  Wizard  of  the  Wave"  was  produced,  with 
Mr.  Davenport  as  Tom  Truck  and  John  R.  Scott 
as  Charles  Falkner;  "Ivanhoe"  was  revived,  with 
Mr.  Davenport  in  the  title  role,  F.  S.  Chanfrau  as 
Cedric,  John  R.  Scott  as  Isaac  of  York,  and  Mrs. 
Jones  as  Rebecca;  and  a  new  drama  by  T.  W.  Pitt- 
man,  entitled  "The  Last  of  the  Thousand  and  One 
Nights,"  was  performed,  with  Davenport  as  the 
Sultan  Schariah  and  Chanfrau  as  Kerim.  On  the 
9th  of  July,  1846,  Mr.  Davenport  took  his  fare- 
well benefit,  playing  Wildrake  in  "The  Love  Chase" 


to  Mrs.  Henry  Hunt's  Constance.  In  the  summer 
of  1846  he  made  his  first  appearance  in  Albany, 
then  an  important  theatrical  centre,  as  Claude  Mel- 
notte  to  the  Pauline  of  Mrs.  Melinda  Jones,  the 
wife  of  the  renowned  Count  Joannes.  The  en- 
gagement was  a  brief  one,  and  of  it  H.  P.  Phelps 
thus  speaks  in  his  "Players  of  a  Century :  A  Rec- 
ord of  the  Albany  Stage" : 

It  speaks  well  for  the  dramatic  taste  of  Albanians  that 
Mr.  Davenport,  from  the  very  first,  was  a  great  favorite 
with  them.  The  American  stage  has  had  few,  if  any, 
better  general  actors.  Versatile  to  a  remarkable  de- 
gree, refined,  polished,  and  classical,  yet  capable  of  most 
powerful  acting,  while  he  may  have  been  excelled  in 
single  characters,  he  was  the  peer  of  any  when  tragedy 
and  comedy  are  both  considered.  Few  who  saw  it  will 
forget  his  personation  of  Brutus,  or  dissent  from  the 
opinion  that  he  was  indeed  the  noblest  Roman  of  them 
all.    It  was  the  last  character  he  played  in  Albany. 


CHAPTER  II 

TEN  years  had  passed  since  that  momentous 
first  night  at  Providence.  During  these  years 
Mr.  Davenport  had  had  every  advantage  open  to 
the  young  actor  of  that  day.  He  had  been  trained 
in  the  best  school  of  acting — the  stock  company; 
he  had  become  familiar  with  an  extensive  list  of 
popular  characters ;  he  had  played  all  sorts  of  parts, 
from  valets  to  the  heroes  of  tragedy ;  and  through 
practical  experience  he  had  gained  a  valuable  know- 
ledge of  the  many  varied  ins  and  outs  of  an  ac- 
tor's life.  His  reputation  had  increased  steadily, 
until  he  had  become  known  both  within  and  with- 
out the  dramatic  profession  as  an  actor  of  excep- 
tional intellectual  ability.  Hence  engagements 
came  to  him  without  the  asking. 

In  1846  he  was  engaged  as  leading  man  in  sup- 
port of  Anna  Cora  Mowatt,  a  talented  and  culti- 
vated woman  who,  through  an  interest  in  the 
drama  and  active  participation  in  amateur  theat- 
ricals, had  the  year  previously  entered  the  pro- 
fessional ranks.  Her  first  season  had  brought  her 
an  unusual  amount  of  success  for  a  beginner,  but 
she  had  been  unfortunate  in  the  selection  of  a  lead- 
14 


<£btoar&  3loomig  SDatoenport        *5 

ing  man,  and  at  the  opening  of  her  second  year  she 
sought  other  and  more  capable  support.  In  her 
"Autobiography"  she  says : 

My  engagements  for  the  first  year  concluded  at  New 

Orleans.    Our  contract  with  Mr.  C ,  which  then  came 

to  an  end,  was  not  renewed.  Edward  L.  Davenport  of 
Boston  was  strongly  recommended  to  Mr.  Mowatt  by 
old  and  leading  members  of  the  profession.  His  high) 
moral  character,  his  unassuming  and  gentleman-like  man-! 
ners,  his  wonderful  versatility  and  indisputable  talents, 
caused  him  to  be  selected  as  the  person  who  was  to 
travel  with  us  during  my  second  year  on  the  stage. 
Upon  this  selection,  every  succeeding  month  and  year 
gave  us  new  cause  for  congratulation.  The  prominent 
position  he  has  since  won  upon  the  English  stage,  and 
the  honors  he  has  received  from  fastidious  English  audi- 
ences, are  the  just  reward  of  intrinsic  but  most  unosten- 
tatious merit.  The  American  public  were  doubly  satis- 
fied with  the  choice  made  of  a  professional  associate, 
because  Mr.  Davenport  is  a  countryman.  We  commenced 
our  theatrical  tour  at  Buffalo,  and  made  the  whole  cir- 
cuit of  the  United  States.  Another  prosperous  year 
crowned  our  exertions.1 

Their  season  in  New  York  began  at  the  Park 
Theatre,  on  September  28,  1846,  with  "Romeo  and 
Juliet,"  followed  during  the  engagement  by  Fazio 
to  Mrs.  Mowatt's  Bianca,  Benedick  to  her  Beatrice, 
St.  Pierre  to  her  Mariana,  Charles  Austencourt  to 

1  "Autobiography  of  an  Actress;  or,  Eight  Years  on 
the  Stage."  By  Anna  Cora  Mowatt.  Boston,  1854.  Page 
253. 


16  %  25iosra$)p  of 


her  Helen  Morrett,  and  Louis  XV  to  her  Marchion- 
ess de  Clermont.  Mr.  Davenport  aided  the  star  so 
ably  that  he  proved  himself  something  more  than 
the  average  leading  man.  Many  years  after  this 
period  Laurence  Hutton  wrote :  "E.  L.  Davenport 
played  Romeo  in  1846.  Where  is  there  to-day  a 
better  or  a  more  artistic  Romeo  than  his  ?"  At  the 
outset  of  his  association  with  her,  Mrs.  Mowatt 
was  scarcely  more  than  a  novice,  and  she  found 
Mr.  Davenport's  assistance  of  great  value.  Al- 
though he  by  no  means  assumed  the  position  of 
instructor,  his  opinions  and  advice  were  gracefully 
volunteered  and  graciously  accepted.  In  spite  of 
her  inexperience  and  her  temerity  in  beginning  at 
the  top  of  the  profession,  Mrs.  Mowatt  was  a  sur- 
prisingly good  actress.  She  was  a  very  interest- 
ing woman,  and  carried  with  her  into  her  profes- 
sion an  atmosphere  of  refinement  and  exceptional 
self-possession. 

The  tour  included  a  large  section  of  the  South, 
and  at  several  places  in  which  there  were  no  thea- 
tres Mrs.  Mowatt  gave  readings  and  Mr.  Daven- 
port enlivened  the  entertainments  with  both  senti- 
mental and  comic  songs.  On  their  way  from 
Vicksburg  to  Louisville  by  boat,  they  were  accom- 
panied by  Henry  Clay,  and  the  efforts  of  the  pas- 
sengers were  naturally  directed  toward  making  the 
trip  an  interesting  one  for  the  distinguished  states- 
man. Mr.  Davenport  was  naturally  the  leader. 
He  sang  comic,  patriotic,  and  pathetic  songs,  and 


<£btoarb  ffioomig  SDatoenport        x7 

recited  humorous  sketches  involving  the  imper- 
sonation of  a  half-dozen  or  more  characters.  In 
everything  he  attempted  his  rare  versatility  was 
brought  to  the  fore.  One  evening  he  entered  the 
steamboat  saloon  disguised  as  a  Yankee.  He  wore 
a  red  wig,  striped  pantaloons  which  displayed  a 
liberal  supply  of  ankle,  a  short  jacket,  and  a  flame- 
colored  cravat.  His  hands  were  thrust  deeply  into 
his  pockets,  and  his  "jog-along"  gait  could  have 
originated  only  in  New  England.  Except  by  Mrs. 
Mowatt,  who  tells  the  story,  and  her  husband,  he 
was  not  recognized  when  he  entered  the  cabin. 
The  passengers  supposed  that  he  was  a  new  ar- 
rival taken  on  at  the  last  landing-place.  He  began 
to  talk  loudly  and  familiarly  in  a  nasal  voice,  ask- 
ing questions  of  everybody.  He  gave  Mr.  Mowatt 
a  nudge,  and  accosted  him  with :  "Stranger,  I  hear 
that  's  Henry  Clay;  I  guess  I  '11  scrape  acquain- 
tance with  him,  if  you  '11  do  the  polite  thing."  Mr. 
Mowatt  of  course  presented  the  new-comer  to  Mr. 
Clay,  and  his  remarks  to  the  "best  representative 
of  republican  royalty,"  as  he  designated  the  states- 
man, convulsed  the  passengers  with  laughter. 
Fearing  that  the  affair  might  go  too  far,  Mrs. 
Mowatt  quietly  let  Mr.  Clay  into  the  secret,  and 
Mr.  Davenport's  fun  was  therefore  at  an  end. 

With  such  festivities  to  lighten  the  burdens  im- 
posed by  travel  and  hard  work,  Mr.  Davenport's 
first  season  with  Mrs.  Mowatt  progressed  rapidly. 
The  unvarying  geniality  of  his  manner,  his  jovial- 
3 


18  %  2&osrapl)p  of 


ity,  and  his  courtliness,  as  the  occasion  demanded, 
made  him  as  great  a  favorite  in  private  life  as  his 
genius  as  an  actor  made  him  on  the  stage.  He 
possessed  in  a  wonderful  degree  the  ability  to  adapt 
himself  to  circumstances.  Whether  in  the  com- 
pany of  statesmen  or  divines,  of  aged  or  young,  of 
rich  or  poor,  of  educated  or  uneducated,  his  pres- 
ence was  always  a  pleasure,  and  the  natural  dignity 
of  his  manner  impressed  everybody  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact. 

The  first  season  with  Mrs.  Mowatt  ended  in 
Cincinnati,  and  at  his  final  performance  there  Mr. 
Davenport  was  presented,  by  some  young  men  of 
the  city,  with  a  suitably  inscribed  watch  and  chain. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  tour,  Mr. 
Mowatt  sailed  for  England  to  make  arrangements 
for  a  London  season  for  his  wife;  and  as  Mr. 
Davenport  had  been  reengaged  to  support  Mrs. 
Mowatt  a  second  year,  he  would  naturally  be  in- 
cluded in  the  enterprise.  Macready,  with  whom 
Mr.  Mowatt  consulted,  thought  it  impolitic  for 
Mrs.  Mowatt  to  make  her  English  debut  in  a  Lon- 
don theatre,  and  his  advice  being  accepted,  plans 
were  completed  for  a  preliminary  tour  of  the  larger 
provincial  towns.  During  this  summer,  however, 
Mrs.  Mowatt  herself  had  not  been  idle.  She  com- 
pleted her  play  "Armand,"  the  title  role  of  which 
had  been  written  especially  for  Mr.  Davenport, 
and  "suited  to  his  vigorous  and  impulsive  style  of 
acting."     Their  season  in  New  York  began  on 


September  23,  at  the  Park  Theatre,  with  James 
Sheridan  Knowles's  play  "Love,"  and  on  the  27th 
"Armand"  was  produced,  with  the  following  cast : 

Armand E.  L.  Davenport. 

King  Louis  XV Mr.  Hield. 

Due  de  Richelieu "    Barry. 

Due  d'Antin "    Dougherty. 

Le  Sage A.  Andrews. 

Victor Miss  Susan  Denin. 

Dame  Babetle Mrs.  Vernon. 

Jacqueline Miss  Horn. 

Blanche Mrs.  Mowatt. 

The  play  was  favorably  received,  and  ran  for  six 
nights,  or  until  the  end  of  the  engagement.  "Mr. 
Davenport's  personation  of  Armand"  says  Mrs. 
Mowatt,  "gained  him  fresh  laurels.  I  was  too 
nervous  and  too  much  tormented  with  anxieties  for 
the  success  of  the  play  to  embody  the  character  of 
Blanche  to  my  own  satisfaction."  At  the  close  of 
the  engagement  at  the  Park  Theatre,  Mrs.  Mowatt 
and  Mr.  Davenport  went  to  Boston,  and  there  took 
their  farewell  of  the  American  stage.  On  the  first 
of  November,  1847,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Mowatt, 
they  sailed  from  Boston  for  Liverpool  on  the 
steamship  Cambria.  It  was  to  be  six  years  before 
Mr.  Davenport  would  return  to  his  native  country. 
A  letter  written  by  Mr.  Davenport  to  Edwin  For- 
rest a  few  weeks  prior  to  his  departure  is  espe- 
cially pertinent  in  view  of  their  later  estrangement. 
It  bears  date  of  October  10,  1847. 


20        €titoarb  Sttoomig  2Datoen$>ort 


I  have  not  words  to  express  the  gratification  and 
pleasure  I  felt  in  witnessing  your  masterly  performance. 
It  was  probably  the  last  time  I  shall  have  an  opportunity 
to  see  you  for  years,  but  I  assure  you,  however  long  it 
may  be,  the  remembrance  will  always  live  in  my  mind 
as  vividly  as  now. 


CHAPTER   III 

AT  the  Theatre  Royal,  Manchester,  on  Decem- 
XI  ber  6,  1847,  Mr.  Davenport  made  his  first 
appearance  on  the  English  stage.  The  play  was 
"The  Lady  of  Lyons,"  Mrs.  Mowatt  acting  Paul- 
ine and  Mr.  Davenport  Claude  Melnotte.  The 
only  existing  records  of  this  important  epoch  in 
Mr.  Davenport's  career  are  naturally  the  daily  and 
weekly  newspapers  of  Manchester,  and  to  them  we 
must  go  for  an  account  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
was  received  by  a  public  with  whose  tastes  and 
customs  he  was  utterly  unacquainted.  The  Man- 
chester "Guardian,"  then  and  now  one  of  the  lead- 
ing newspapers  of  Great  Britain  outside  of  Lon- 
don, thus  speaks  of  the  performance : 

We  did  not  see  the  first  two  acts  of  the  play,  but  we 
saw  sufficient  to  form  a  highly  favorable  opinion  of  both 
actors.  In  the  third  act,  where  Pauline  discovers  in  the 
homely  cottage  of  the  mother  the  cheat  Claude  has  prac- 
tised upon  her,  there  was  much  powerful  acting  on  the 
part  of  both.  .  .  .  Both  actors  were  called  before  the 
curtain  at  the  close  of  the  play,  and,  having  received  the 
cordial  tribute  of  applause,  Mrs.  Mowatt  glided  off,  sig- 
nificantly pointing  to  Mr.  Davenport  as  equally  deserv- 
ing of  the  tribute  with  herself.  As  if  touched  with  the 
21 


22  %  2&iogra#>p  ** 


friendliness  of  the  reception,  Mr.  Davenport  addressed 
the  audience  in  terms  of  grateful  acknowledgment. 
"Ladies  and  gentlemen:  It  is  with  no  ordinary  feelings 
that  I  appear  before  you,  respectfully  to  offer  Mrs. 
Mowatt's  acknowledgments,  and  permit  me  to  add  my 
own,  for  the  hearty  manner  in  which  you  have  received 
our  first  efforts  before  a  British  public.  Though  stran- 
gers among  you,  the  fair  report  which  reached  us  in 
our  own  land  of  the  generous  appreciation  of  the  drama 
here  (especially  by  a  Manchester  audience)  ;  of  their 
warm  reception  of  those  who  seek  to  maintain  its  purity; 
of  their  well-known  hospitality  to  the  children  of  a  sis- 
ter country,  led  us  to  hope  for  some  indulgence;  and 
allow  me  to  say  we  are  sensible  of  having  to-night  re- 
ceived not  that  indulgence  alone,  but  the  most  cheering 
encouragement  at  your  hands.  Should  we  be  so  fortu- 
nate, during  the  present  engagement,  as  to  leave  the  same 
impression  upon  your  memories  which  our  own  coun- 
trymen have  permitted  us  to  believe  we  have  left  on 
theirs,  we  shall  hail  it  as  a  most  auspicious  welcome  to 
this  motherland  of  art  and  science;  we  shall  feel  that  the 
good  wishes  of  our  friends  have  not  been  breathed  in 
vain;  and  in  redoubling  our  exertions  will  seek  to  merit 
the  favor  which  you  seem  prepared  so  liberally  to  be- 
stow." 

The  engagement  was  successful  beyond  expec- 
tation, continuing  two  weeks.  Leaving  Manches- 
ter at  its  close,  Mrs.  Mowatt  and  Mr.  Davenport 
proceeded  immediately  to  London,  where  they 
opened  at  the  Princess's  Theatre  on  January  5, 
1848,  in  "The  Hunchback,"  beginning  an  engage- 
ment which  lasted  on  alternate  nights  for  six 
weeks.       The  cast  of  "The  Hunchback,"  which 


<£btoatb  Hoomi£  2Datanpott         23 


was  repeated  on  the  second  night  of  the  engage- 
ment, is  as  follows : 

Master  Walter Mr.  Cooper. 

Sir  Thomas  Clifford  ...      "     Davenport. 

Lord  Tinsel "     James  Vining. 

Master  Wilford      ....      "     C.  Fisher. 
Master  Heart-well  ....      "     Norton. 

Modus "     Compton. 

Gaylove "A.  Harris. 

Fathom "     S.  Cowell. 

Thomas "     Wynn. 

Stephen "     Palmer. 

Holdwell "     Muckwell. 

Williams "     T.  Hill. 

Simpson "     Stacy. 

Waiter "     Henry. 

Julia Mrs.  Mowatt. 

Helen Miss  Emmeline  Montague. 


The  night  was  an  eventful  and  exacting  one  for 
Mrs.  Mowatt.  "Mr.  Davenport  escaped  the  an- 
noyances to  which  I  had  been  subjected,''  she 
writes.  "The  part  of  Clifford  is  not  one  in  which 
he  could  exhibit  the  extent  of  his  talents,  but  his 
fine  person,  manly  bearing,  and  quietly  earnest  act- 
ing won  ready  favor."  The  next  part  for  Mr. 
Davenport  was  Benedick,  and  thereafter  the  en- 
gagement successfully  continued  its  allotted  pe- 
riod. 

From  London,  Mr.  Davenport  wrote  home,  in 
February,  1848: 


24  %  S&ograptjp  of 


You  of  course  have  heard  of  our  very  pleasant  advent 
here.  Thus  far  we  are  delighted.  It  will  take  us  some 
little  time  to  get  our  posts  well  bedded  in  the  soil  of  their 
beef-eating,  porter-guzzling  hearts,  but  when  we  do, 
"git  out  o'  the  way,  old  Dan  Tucker."  We  live  in  hope 
that  when  we  do  return  our  friends  at  home  will  not 
be  very  much  ashamed  of  us.  We  feel  that  even  now 
we  have  improved  in  our  style.  Tell  Ayling  I  have  seen 
nothing  here  of  my  size,  age,  looks,  and  weight  that  I 
fear.  I  hope  to  see  him  here  in  the  spring,  and  by  that 
time  I  shall  have  been  through  the  provinces,  and  can 
give  him  any  information  he  may  require,  though  I  fear 
he  won't  find  anything  that  will  alarm  him.  Gilbert  is 
at  the  same  house  we  are  playing  at,  and  he  is  held  in 
high  esteem.  There  were  three  of  us  the  other  night  in 
one  piece,  and  we  did  go  it  strong,  each  proud  of  each 
other.  I  see  with  sorrow  the  vile  use  to  which  the  Fed- 
eral is  being  put — to  what  it  will  come  under  T.'s  direc- 
tion we  can't  say. 

From  the  Princess's  Theatre  they  went  to  the 
Olympic  Theatre,  the  famous  little  playhouse  in 
Wych  Street  that  has  recently  been  forced  to  give 
way  before  the  march  of  modern  improvement. 
Gustavus  Vaughan  Brooke,  the  tragedian  whose 
Othello  had  startled  London  playgoers  by  its  in- 
tensity some  two  years  before,  had  just  left  the 
Olympic  for  a  provincial  tour,  and  the  American 
players  were  engaged  to  fill  his  place  until  his  re- 
turn. "The  Lady  of  Lyons"  was  the  opening  bill, 
and  was  repeated  six  successive  nights.  Upon 
Mr.  Brooke's  return,  a  new  tragedy  by  Henry 
Spicer,  entitled  "The  Lords  of  Ellingham,"  was 


€btoar&  Xoomig  SDatoenport        2s 

produced,  with  Mrs.  Mowatt  as  Edith,  Mr.  Daven- 
port as  Dudley  Latymer,  and  Mr.  Brooke  as  Lau- 
rency,  but  it  was  not  of  sufficient  distinction  to  win 
any  lasting  popularity.  The  engagement  contin- 
ued until  the  theatre  closed  for  the  season,  Mr. 
Davenport  acting  characters  of  equal  importance 
with  Mr.  Brooke.  It  is  well  known  to  all  students 
of  the  stage  that  Brooke  was  an  actor  of  the  robust 
school,  and  the  contrast  of  his  acting  with  that 
of  Mr.  Davenport  was  sufficiently  marked  to  call 
forth  many  comments  in  favor  of  the  American 
actor's  superior  discrimination,  intelligence,  and 
good  taste.  One  critic  went  so  far  as  to  say  that 
"when  he  [Mr.  Davenport]  plays  I  ago  to  Mr. 
Brooke's  Othello,  Iago  is  the  ruling  spirit  of  the 
piece ;  but  when  the  cast  is  reversed,  Iago  sinks  to 
the  level  of  a  truculent  ruffian,  and  Othello  rises 
into  the  dignity  of  a  brave,  honorable,  and  injured 
man." 

In  the  autumn  of  1848  an  engagement  began  at 
the  Theatre  Royal,  Marylebone,  which,  by  frequent 
renewals,  was  destined  to  last  through  nearly  half 
a  year.  The  first  night  was  given  over  to  "As 
You  Like  It,"  with  Mrs.  Mowatt  as  Rosalind  and 
Mr.  Davenport  as  Orlando.  The  programmes 
thereafter  show  frequent  changes.  "In  two  or 
three  instances  the  choice  of  plays  was  left  to  the 
management,"  says  Mrs.  Mowatt.  "I,  not  pos- 
sessing Mr.  Davenport's  remarkable  versatility, 
which  enabled  him  to  embody  with  equal  ease  an 
4 


26  %  2&iograj>l)p  of 


Othello  or  a  Yankee,  a  cardinal  or  a  sailor,  was 
consequently  the  sufferer.  On  one  occasion  the 
manager  selected  a  drama  by  Serle,  entitled  'The 
Shadow  on  the  Wall/  The  character  of  the  hero- 
ine had  been  very  successfully  represented  by  Mrs. 
Keeley,  but  it  was  as  much  out  of  my  reach  as 
Lady  Macbeth  was  out  of  hers.  In  spite  of  my 
shortcomings  as  Cicely,  the  play  was  rendered  suf- 
ficiently attractive  by  Mr.  Davenport's  thrilling 
personation  of  Luke,  to  be  repeated  several  times. 
The  critics  courteously  ignored  my  failure,  but  that 
did  not  render  the  mortification  less  poignant  to 
myself."  On  January  18,  1849,  Mrs-  Mowatt's 
play  "Armand"  was  performed  at  the  Theatre 
Royal,  Marylebone,  for  the  first  time  in  England. 
It  had  been  previously  read  by  several  distin- 
guished literary  men,  and  under  their  advice  had 
been  subjected  by  Mrs.  Mowatt  to  a  thorough  re- 
vision. Mr.  Davenport  of  course  played  the  title 
role,  and  his  success,  the  success  of  the  author, 
and  the  success  of  the  play  was  complete.  The 
critic  of  the  "Examiner"  remarked  of  Mr.  Daven- 
port: "He  rendered  able  support  to  the  piece  as 
Armand,  the  artisan.  He  maintained  a  frank, 
manly  bearing,  without  degenerating  into  insolence, 
and,  to  our  perceptions,  without  the  transatlantic 
exaggeration  which  haunts  the  imagination  of 
some  of  our  critics,  who  might  find  the  reality 
nearer  home."  "Armand"  was  acted  twenty-one 
nights,  and  the  season  then  closed  with  the  produc- 


<£&toarb  Hoomig  SDatenport         27 

tion  of  "The  Witch  Wife,"  a  drama  in  five  acts 
by  Henry  Spicer. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1849,  Mr.  Davenport 
married  Miss  Fanny  Vining,  with  whom  he  had 
first  appeared  at  the  Marylebone  Theatre  in  James 
Sheridan  Knowles's  play,  "Love."  Henceforth 
their  careers  were  to  be  practically  one  and  the 
same. 

After  the  summer  vacation,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dav- 
enport returned  to  London,  and  in  September  the 
Theatre  Royal,  Marylebone,  was  reopened,  with 
Mrs.  Mowatt  as  the  star  and  Mr.  Davenport  in 
the  title  role  of  Epes  Sargent's  tragedy  "Velasco." 
The  character  of  Isidora  was  acted  by  Mrs.  Daven- 
port, who  for  some  time  retained  upon  the  stage  the 
name  of  Fanny  Vining.  During  the  season  a  num- 
ber of  new  plays  were  produced,  with  varying  suc- 
cess, including  John  Oxenford's  translation  of  La- 
tour  de  St.  Ybars's  "Virginie,"  with  Mrs.  Mowatt 
in  the  title  role  and  Mr.  Davenport  as  Virginms. 
"Cymbeline"  and  "Twelfth  Night"  were  given,  but 
the  most  notable  revival  of  all  was  that  of  "Romeo 
and  Juliet,"  with  Miss  Vining  in  "a  fervid  imper- 
sonation of  the  impassioned  Romeo"  Mrs.  Mowatt 
as  Juliet,  and  Mr.  Davenport  as  Mercutio. 

In  the  meantime  a  new  Olympic  Theatre  had 
arisen  from  the  ashes  of  the  old,  and  for  its  com- 
pany were  engaged  Mr.  Davenport,  Mr.  Brooke, 
Mr.  Conway,  Alfred  Wigan,  Henry  Compton,  Mrs. 
Mowatt,  Miss  Fanny  Vining,  Mrs.  Seymour,  and 


28 


%  2&iograj>l)p  of 


numerous  lesser  lights.  The  opening  bill  for  the 
evening  of  December  26,  1849,  was  "Two  Gentle- 
men of  Verona,"  and  as  there  was  no  part  in  that 
play  for  Mrs.  Mowatt,  she  delivered  the  inaugural 
address,  written  by  Albert  Smith  of  "Mont  Blanc" 
fame.     Shakspere's  comedy  was  cast  as  follows : 

The  Duke  of  Milan Mr.  Ryder. 

Valentine "     Davenport. 

Proteus "     Conway. 

Antonio "     G.  Cooke. 

Panthino "     Kinloch. 

Thurio "     Belton. 

Eglamour "J.  Howard. 

Speed "     Scharf. 

Launce "     Compton. 

Host "     Morris. 

The  Duke's  Knight "     Haines. 

First  Outlaw "     Stanton. 

Second  Outlaw "     Younge. 

Third   Outlaw "     Morrison. 

Julia Miss  Fanny  Vining. 

Silvia Mrs.  Seymour. 

Lucetta Miss  Marshall. 

Ursula "      Mears. 

A  letter  written  home  by  Mr.  Davenport  at  this 
period  reads  as  follows : 

London.  At  least  it  would  be,  but  I  have  been  taken 
fifty  miles  by  express  train  in  1^  hours  and  five  minutes 
to  Brighton  to  get  a  sniff  of  salt  air,  having  a  couple 
more  leisure  days,  being  in  Passion  Week,  when  the  shop 
is  shut.    Therefore  I  beg  to  begin  as  follows :  Brighton, 


€btoarti  Hoomig  2Datoen#ort         29 


April  4,  1849.    My  Dear  Friend  F .    Well,  we  are  still 

here  in  John  Bulldom,  and  are  still  better  Yankees  than 
ever ;  our  last  success  has  raised  us  in  our  own  estimation 
severaj,  feet,  and  per  cent,  to  match.  We  feel  thanks. 
Yankees  are  some  "punkins,"  and  dear  old  America  in 
the  dim  distance  looms  up  like  the  seventy-four-gun  ship 
of  nations  amidst  a  whole  squadron  of  Baltimore  clip- 
pers. We  are  a  great  people  and  bound  to  be  greater, 
and  to  any  fool  who  dares  to  squint  at  us  we  will  prove 
we  are  nutmeg  graters  of  the  greatest  sort.  We  are  still 
at  the  Marylebone,  that  is  recommencing  Monday,  April  9, 
after  Easter  week,  and  I  presume  we  remain  there  until 
the  season's  closing,  say  latter  part  of  June.  Open  your 
eyes,  O  ye  two-week  stars  in  America,  and  see  the 
names  of  Mowatt  and  Davenport  sixteen  and  seventeen 
weeks  successively  and  successfully  before  an  admiring 
public!  Bull-headed  and  porter-sucking,  wine-drinking 
and  horse-racing,  dog-fighting  and  half-and-half-destroy- 
ing though  they  be,  there  are  some  here  who  (the  best 
compliment  I  can  pay  them)  ought  to  have  been  Yankees. 
You  would  go  right  off  the  handle  to  be  here  a  month. 
Why,  everything  is  a  system,  even  from  playing  to  buying 
a  house  or  sending  a  letter  through  the  post.  Speaking 
of  the  eminent  Mr.  Macready,  who  I  believe  is  acknow- 
ledged here  as  the  head  of  the  drama,  he  is  announced 
as  the  Eminent  Tragedian,  but  Mr.  James  Anderson  is 
now  posted  as  the  Preeminent — in  my  opinion,  though 
humble,  this  is  a  streak  of  agonistic  imagination  that  is 
smelling  exceedingly  strong  of  egotistical  self-praise. 
What  say  you?  ...  I  still  hold  to  my  original  opin- 
ion that  we  have  more  natural  talent  in  America,  but  not 
so  much  application.  We  are  careless.  I  mean  all  con- 
cerned, from  manager  to  supes.  Here  rehearsals  are 
made  of  importance,  and  when  a  piece  is  to  be  done  the 
property  men,  musicians,  and  actors  must  each  do  their 
share.    It  is  a  system  here  that  I  should  gladly  see  in- 


3°  %  2&iograpl)p  of 


troduced  into  our  theatres,  and  if  ever  I  have  power  I 
will  strive  to  bring  it  around. 

We  can  play  Shakspere  almost  without  a  rehearsal. 
Not  so  here.  The  actors  and  all  know  and  feel  their 
responsibility  (I  am  speaking  of  the  greatest  theatres), 
and  for  their  own  credit's  sake  are  alive  to  all.  Stage 
appointments  are  also  here  more  attended  to,  effects  of 
scenery  more  studied,  the  artist  being  for  a  period  the 
director  for  his  own  purpose;  then  the  machinist,  and 
then,  with  good  acting,  regulated  by  a  stage  manager 
who  knows  his  business,  you  see  things  done  well;  but 
remove  any  one  of  the  screws  and  you  will  have  a  lame 
machine.  I  have  seen  one  piece,  "Armand,"  put  on  the 
stage  here  in  the  little  theatre  we  are  playing  in,  better 
than  anything  of  the  kind  in  our  largest  house.  Yet  in 
talent  I  say  we  can  lick  'em.  I  've  seen  only  one  actress 
here  yet  that  I  would  engage  as  leading  woman — I  mean 
after  stars — and  her  name  is  Fanny  Vining;  she  is  a 
young,  fine-looking  creature,  very  talented,  and  how 
managers  have  imported  heaps  of  Coleman  Popes  and 
Tyrrells  and  fifty  thousand  more  into' our  country  and 
made  the  people  think  they  were  London  leaders,  I  can't 
see.  She  will  be  a  jewel  to  any  manager  who  can 
get  her  as  his  leading  lady.  Both  Mrs.  Mowatt  and  my- 
self have  taken  quite  a  fancy  to  her,  and  I  should  n't 
wonder  if  we  enticed  her  over.  As  to  young  men — I 
am  not  vain,  but  I  can  see  no  one  here  that  I  need 
fear. 

C.  Cushman  can  lick  all  the  tragedy  ones  (heavy),  and 
our  little  Mowatt  all  the  juvenile  and  comedy  ones.  I 
have  not  seen  Helen  Faucit  yet;  I  of  course  except  Mrs. 
Nisbett.  There  is  no  old  man  can  compare  with  Henry 
Placide,  and  young  Wheatleigh  and  Murdoch  can  hang 
'em  all  in  light  comedy.  So  you  see  we  go,  and  yet  they 
are  so  loth  to  allow  that  Yankees  have  talent. 

I  shall  not  write  to  my  little  brother  this  steamer,  so 


<£&toarb  Jloomig  SDatocttpott        31 

if  you  see  him  tell  him  I  received  his  "pencil  sketch"  of 
March  31 ;  came  to  hand  to-day. 

Love  to  all  whom  you  deem  care  for  me.  I  hope  by 
next  steamer  but  one  to  let  you  know  when  we  do  re- 
turn. We  remain  away  one  year  more.  Certain  offers 
are  to  be  made,  and  if  certain  folks  have  gumption 
enough  to  see  they  will  do  better  staying  than  coming — 
why,  etc.,  etc.     Believe  me,  yours  most  sincerely, 

Edward  L.  Davenport. 

"Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona"  was  repeated  on 
the  remaining  evenings  of  the  week,  and  then  on 
the  ensuing  Monday  Mr.  Davenport  played  Bene- 
dick to  the  Beatrice  of  Mrs.  Mowatt.  "Twelfth 
Night"  followed,  and  then  came  "Othello,"  with 
Mr.  Brooke  in  the  title  role,  Mr.  Davenport  as 
Iago,  Mrs.  Mowatt  as  Desdemona,  and  Miss  Vining 
as  Emilia.  The  season  continued  auspiciously,  and 
on  the  19th  of  February  "The  Noble  Heart,"  by 
George  Henry  Lewes,  had  its  first  presentation, 
with  Mr.  Brooke  as  Don  Gomez,  Mr.  Davenport 
as  Leon,  and  Mrs.  Mowatt  as  Juanna.  The  second 
novelty  was  Mrs.  Mowatt's  own  play  "Fashion," 
in  which  the  author  declined  to  appear,  her  part 
of  Gertrude  being  acted  by  Miss  Vining  "more 
effectively  than  its  author  had  ever  done,"  remarks 
Mrs.  Mowatt.  "Mr.  Davenport  personated  the  old 
farmer,  Adam  Trueman,"  she  continues.  "The 
happy  blending  of  deep  pathos  and  hearty  humor 
in  his  embodiment  made  the  performance  a  memor- 
able one."  The  play  ran  only  two  weeks,  a  much 
shorter  period  than   "Armand"  had   run  at  the 


32  %  2ftograpJ)p  of 


Theatre  Royal,  Marylebone,  the  season  before,  and 
met  with  only  qualified  success,  probably  because 
the  democratic  utterances  of  some  of  the  characters 
did  not  accord  with  the  political  prejudices  of  the 
majority  of  the  Olympic  Theatre  patrons.  One 
night  there  was  an  emphatic  hiss  in  answer  to  one 
of  Adam  Trueman's  speeches.  With  quick  pres- 
ence of  mind,  Mr.  Davenport  stopped  suddenly, 
coolly  folded  his  arms,  gazed  steadily  at  the  por- 
tion of  the  theatre  whence  had  come  the  hiss,  and 
by  his  silence  demanded  the  judgment  of  the  audi- 
ence upon  the  interruption.  His  perfect  self-pos- 
session at  once  put  the  audience  upon  his  side,  and 
a  torrent  of  applause  set  the  disturber  and  his  com- 
rades far  into  the  background.  The  performance 
then  proceeded  without  further  interruption.  Sev- 
eral other  new  plays  were  acted,  and  several  more 
put  into  rehearsal,  when  the  career  of  the  Olympic 
Theatre  and  its  splendid  company  of  actors  was 
brought  to  a  sudden  end  by  the  arrest  of  Mr.  Wal- 
ter Watts,  who  both  at  the  Marylebone  and  the 
Olympic  theatres  had  been  cutting  a  wide  swath  in 
the  theatrical  world. 

In  Edmund  Yates's  entertaining  "Memoirs  of 
a  Man  of  the  World"  may  be  found  an  account 
of  the  man  who  played  so  large  a  part  in  the  stage 
affairs  of  London  at  this  period. 

Who  was  Mr.  Walter  Watts?  Personally,  a  cheery, 
light- whiskered,  pleasant  little  man,  of  convivial  andcham- 


MR.  DAVENPORT  AS  ADAM  TRUEMAN 
IN  "FASHION." 


€btoatf»  ttoomig  SDatoenport        33 


pagne-supper-giving  tendencies.  What  was  he?  Actors 
in  those  days  were,  as  a  rule,  not  very  clear  about  busi- 
ness matters;  they  knew  he  was  not  an  actor;  they 
thought  he  was  "something  in  the  City."  He  was  an 
excellent  paymaster,  very  hospitable  to  all  authors  and 
critics,  drove  in  a  handsome  brougham,  and  made  ele- 
gant presents  to  the  "leading  ladies"  whom  he  admired. 
"Something  in  the  City,"  it  was  opined,  must  be  a  good 
berth.  The  position  which  Walter  Watts  really  occu- 
pied in  the  City  was  that  of  a  clerk  in  the  Globe  Insur- 
ance office  at  a  comparatively  small  salary,  and  the  money 
on  which  he  had  lived  in  luxury  and  carried  out  his 
theatrical  speculations  was  obtained  by  fraud.  By  in- 
genious alterations  in  the  pass-books  and  ledgers,  aided, 
one  would  imagine,  by  gross  carelessness  on  the  part  of 
responsible  officials,  Watts,  when  discovered  and  arrested 
in  April,  1850,  had  robbed  his  employers  of  upwards  of 
£70,000.  There  was  some  technical  legal  difficulty  in 
framing  the  indictment  against  him,  and  he  was  actually 
convicted  of  stealing  "a  piece  of  paper."  A  point  of  law 
was  reserved,  but  afterward  given  against  him;  he  was 
sentenced  to  ten  years'  transportation,  but  committed  sui- 
cide the  same  night  by  hanging  himself  to  the  grating 
of  his  cell.  He  was  the  precursor  of  Robson  and  Red- 
path,  both  of  whom  swindled  in  a  somewhat  similar  way, 
and  on  a  similar  gigantic  scale. 

Of  Mr.  Davenport's  work  so  far  upon  the  Lon- 
don stage,  a  critic  wrote  at  this  period : 

Mr.  Davenport,  better  known,  perhaps,  as  the  "Ameri- 
can tragedian,"  is  an  actor  whose  capabilities  embrace 
the  highest  range  of  histrionic  art.  Whilst  possessing 
those  attributes  which  never  fail  in  their  favorable  effect 
upon  the  stage — viz.:  a  fine  figure  and  rich,  melodious 
5 


34  %  2&osrapl)p  of 


voice — his  conceptions  are  marked  by  an  intimate  know- 
ledge of  human  nature  and  the  working  of  the  various 
passions  and  emotions  by  which  we  are  ever  and  anon 
agitated,  and  this  renders  his  impersonations  vivid  and 
instinct  with  fidelity.  His  delineations  of  feeling,  such 
as  in  Ingomar,  are  warm  and  impulsive,  and  his  ebulli- 
tions of  passion,  as  in  Othello  or  Virginius,  intense  and 
consuming,  but  the  great  charm  of  his  acting  consists  in 
his  identity  with  his  assumed  characters,  and  the  nature 
and  life  which  he  instills  into  them,  combined  with  an 
ease  and  elegance  of  gesture,  as  well  as  an  agreeable 
freedom  from  rant  or  mouthing. 

Books  relating  to  the  English  stage  of  the  mid- 
nineteenth  century  almost  uniformly  pass  over  in 
silence  the  various  important  engagements  played 
by  Mrs.  Mowatt  and  Mr.  Davenport  at  the  leading 
London  theatres.  In  his  reminiscences  quoted 
from  above,  however,  Mr.  Yates,  in  speaking  of 
the  Theatre  Royal,  Marylebone,  and  the  celebrated 
actors  he  saw  there,  adds : 

For  there  was  first  introduced  to  an  English  public 
the  fascinating  Anna  Cora  Mowatt,  an  American  actress, 
who  was  also  a  poetess  and  a  very  charming  woman. 
With  her  was  her  compatriot,  Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport,  who 
not  merely  played  Shaksperian  and  other  heroes,  but 
actually  dared  to  appear  as  a  British  sailor — William  in 
"Black-eyed  Susan,"  a  character  created  by  the  great 
"Tippy"  Cooke.  Mrs.  Mowatt  and  Mr.  Davenport  were 
very  popular,  both  here  and  at  the  Olympic. 

A  serious  illness  necessitated  Mrs.  Mowatt's 
temporary   retirement   from  the   stage,   and   Mr. 


€btoarb  £oomi£  SDatoenport        35 

Davenport  was  therefore  obliged  to  accept  other 
engagements.  After  her  recovery  she  played  brief 
seasons  in  the  English  provinces  and  in  Ireland, 
with  G.  V.  Brooke  and  Barry  Sullivan  successively 
as  her  leading  actors.  Once  only  did  Mr.  Daven- 
port again  act  in  her  support.  The  occasion  was 
her  benefit  in  Liverpool,  and  in  order  to  play  his 
original  role  in  "Armand"  he  journeyed  especially 
from  London,  while  appearing  at  the  Haymarket 
Theatre,  for  that  purpose.  After  a  long  illness, 
Mr.  Mowatt  died  while  his  wife  was  fulfilling  pro- 
fessional engagements  away  from  London,  but  he 
was  surrounded  by  many  devoted  friends,  of  whom 
Mr.  Davenport  was  one.  In  the  summer  of  1851, 
Mrs.  Mowatt  returned  to  the  United  States,  and, 
after  a  few  brief  tours  of  the  American  theatres, 
she  retired  permanently  from  the  stage.  Her 
final  appearance  was  made  in  New  York  at  Niblo's 
Garden  on  June  3,  1854,  in  the  character  of  Paul- 
ine. A  few  days  later  she  was  married  to  William 
F.  Ritchie,  of  Richmond,  and,  after  living  first  in 
the  South  and  then  in  England,  she  died  July  29, 
1870,  in  the  London  suburb  of  Twickenham. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MACREADY  had  been  for  over  a  quarter  of  a 
century  the  leading  actor  on  the  English 
stage.  Although  fond  of  the  renown  which  his 
profession  brought  him,  and  thoroughly  in  love 
with  its  artistic  elements,  he  was  so  absolutely  and 
continually  out  of  sorts  with  its  discomforts  and 
degradations  that  he  had  many  times  resolved  upon 
permanent  retirement.  The  step  so  frequently  con- 
sidered was  finally  definitely  resolved  upon,  and  on 
October  28,  1850,  he  began  at  the  Haymarket 
Theatre  a  series  of  farewell  performances  which 
continued  over  three  months.  In  these  Mr.  Dav- 
enport bore  a  leading  part,  for,  to  quote  William 
Archer,  in  his  "Life  of  Macready,"  "The  American 
actor,  E.  L.  Davenport,  played  seconds  during  this 
engagement  in  place  of  Wallack,  the  support  for 
the  rest  being  much  as  before."  Such  brief  men- 
tion is  scanty  enough,  and  certainly  undeserved, 
for  Mr.  Davenport,  in  playing  opposite  parts  to 
Macready  during  this  engagement,  was  holding  a 
position  once  filled  by  Samuel  Phelps,  George  Van- 
denhoff,  and  the  younger  James  W.  Wallack. 
That  Macready  himself,  in  his  published  diaries, 
36 


€btoatb  3ioomi£  SDatoenpork        37 

should  make  no  mention  whatever  of  Mr.  Daven- 
port or  of  any  of  the  actors  who  supported  him 
during  this  important  period  of  his  career  was  to 
be  expected.  In  his  "Leaves  from  an  Actor's 
Note-Book,"  George  Vandenhoff  writes  at  length 
upon  this  feature  of  the  great  actor's  character : 

Whatever  was  his  part  for  the  night,  whether  he  was 
Othello  or  I  ago,  Brutus  or  Cassius,  Post  humus  or  Ia- 
chimo,  that  part  must  be  the  feature  of  the  play;  and] 
this  was  to  be  effected  not  by  his  own  towering  and 
surpassing  excellence  in  the  character,  but  by  such  an 
arrangement  of  the  scene  and  such  a  position  of  every 
other  person  on  the  stage  as  must  make  all  others  sub- 
ordinatejand  put  him  on  a  pedestal,  as  it  were,  always 
the  main  figure  in  the  group,  the  most  prominent  object 
in  the  action.  Thus,  when  he  played  Othello,  lago  was 
to  be  nowhere!  Othello  was  to  be  the  sole  consideration, 
the  sole  character  to  be  evolved,  the  all-engrossing  ob- 
ject to  the  eye  and  heart  of  the  audience.  lago  was  a 
mere  stoker,  whose  business  was  to  supply  Othello's  pas- 
sion with  fuel,  and  keep  up  his  high  pressure.  The  next 
night,  perhaps,  he  took  lago,  and  lo,  presto!  everything 
was  changed.  Othello  was  to  become  a  mere  puppet  for 
lago  to  play  with,  a  pipe  for  Iago's  master-skill  to  "sound 
from  its  lowest  note  to  the  top  of  its  compass"!  Iago's 
intellect,  his  fiendish  subtlety,  his  specious,  calculating 
malignity  were  to  be  the  sole  features  of  the  play. 

Other  actors  than  Macready  have  sometimes,  and 
with  less  cause,  attempted  thus  to  magnify  their 
importance  in  the  public  eye.  At  any  rate,  Mr. 
Davenport  certainly  must  have  suffered  from  this 
weakness  of  the  great  actor,  whose  repertory  dur- 


3«  31  25iogra#)p  of    . 

ing  his  farewell  engagement  ranged  from  Hamlet 
and  Othello,  Shylock  and  Richelieu,  to  Virginius 
and  Wolsey,  King  John,  Benedick,  and  Brutus,  the 
season  closing  on  February  3,  1851,  with  a  per- 
formance of  King  Lear.  For  the  farewell  of  all 
the  scene  was  shifted  to  Drury  Lane,  where,  on 
February  26,  Macready,  in  the  character  of  Mac- 
beth, made  his  final  appearance  in  public.  It  is 
related  that,  on  a  certain  evening  of  this  engage- 
ment, the  intensity  of  Mr.  Davenport's  acting  dis- 
pleased Macready,  whereat  the  subordinate  was 
summoned  into  the  presence  of  the  star,  who  re- 
marked: "Mr.  Davenport,  I  wish  you  would  not 
act  quite  so  much.  Your  extreme  earnestness  de- 
tracts from  the  legitimate  effect."  This  rebuke 
naturally  nettled  its  recipient,  and  on  the  following 
evening  he  went  through  the  first  act  with  folded 
arms  and  without  any  attempt  at  expressive  action. 
Macready  again  summoned  him,  and  said:  "You 
will  oblige  me,  Mr.  Davenport,  by  throwing  a 
little  more  animation  into  your  acting."  The  epi- 
sode of  course  ended  there,  to  the  satisfaction  of 
both  sides.  The  contemporary  newspaper  reports 
naturally  referred  more  than  once  to  Mr.  Daven- 
port, and  from  them  a  few  quotations  will  not  be 
out  of  place. 

Mr.  Davenport  may  well  entertain  some  feelings  of 
pride  at  his  present  high  position  at  the  Haymarket,  the 
scene  of  the  principal  dramatic  triumphs  of  English  ac- 
tors of  modern  times;  long  known  as  the  only  metro- 


MR.  DAVENPORT  AS  SHYLOCK. 


<£&toarb  Eoomtg  SDatoenpotk        39 


politan  temple  for  the  legitimate  drama,  the  Haymarket 
appears  now  to  be  just  gaining  the  zenith  of  its  well- 
earned  popularity.  I  was  quite  pleased  to  observe  that 
Mr.  Davenport  was  not  only  immediately  recognized  by 
the  audience  when  he  made  his  appearance  as  Macduff 
on  Monday,  but  that  he  was  right  heartily  welcomed,  as 
if  he  were  an  old  favorite.  I  will  say  it  not  because  he  is 
a  true  American,  but  I  assure  you  that  in  the  fourth  act 
Davenport  actually  received  heartier  and  more  prolonged 
applause  than  Macready  received  during  the  evening, 
with  the  exception  of  that  bestowed  upon  him  when  he 
first  entered,  and  at  his  exit.  This  is  a  plain  fact.  The 
leading  critics  award  our  American  actor  due  praise. 
The  "Times"  says  he  played  Macduff  with  a  great  deal 
of  genuine  feeling;  "possessed  of  good  natural  qualifica- 
tions and  endowed  with  much  intelligence,  this  gentle- 
man has  an  excellent  chance  of  advancing  in  a  line  which 
is  by  no  means  overstocked."  The  "Morning  Post"  says 
that  Davenport  acted  with  judgment  and  feeling;  the 
"Chronicle"  says  that  his  Macduff  was  "a  very  effective 
performance,"  and  the  "Herald"  remarks  that  a  better 
Macduff  could  not  have  been  selected,  that  Mr.  Daven- 
port is  an  acquisition  to  the  company,  and  will  be  emi- 
nently useful,  "for  his  tragic  embodiments  have  always 
been  notable  for  their  force  and  intelligence." 

Over  twenty  years  before,  or,  to  be  exact,  on  the 
8th  of  June,  1829,  there  was  produced  in  Lon- 
don, at  the  old  Surrey  Theatre,  on  the  thither  side 
of  the  Thames,  a  two-act  "nautical  and  domestic" 
drama  entitled  "Black-eyed  Susan ;  or,  All  in  the 
Downs."  It  was  a  trifle  light  as  air,  and  has 
long  been  languishing  in  the  limbo  of  forgotten 
dramas.     Its  first  night  did  not  take  the  London 


4°  31 2&iograj>l)p  of 


world  by  storm,  but  the  piece  gradually  grew  into 
favor,  and  finally  made  the  fame  of  Douglas  Jer- 
rold,  then  a  young  man  only  twenty-six  years  of 
age.  He  had  been  engaged  as  a  hack  dramatic 
writer  for  the  Surrey  Theatre,  then  under  the  man- 
agement of  R.  W.  Elliston,  at  a  salary  of  five  pounds 
a  week,  and  "Black-eyed  Susan"  was  his  first  ef- 
fort to  fulfil  the  duties  of  that  position.  T.  P.  Cooke, 
the  famous  Irish  actor  of  sailor  characters,  who 
had  not  played  at  the  Surrey  Theatre  for  ten  years, 
made  his  appearance  there  as  William,  and  was 
also  the  Long  Tom  Coffin  in  the  after-piece,  "The 
Pilot."  It  is  reported  that  "the  audience  was  hot 
and  noisy  almost  throughout  the  evening.  Now 
and  then,  in  a  lull,  the  seeds  of  wit  intrusted  by  the 
author  to  the  gardener  (Mr.  Buckstone)  were 
loudly  appreciated,  but  the  early  scenes  of  Susan's 
'heart-rending  woe'  would  not  appease  the  clamour. 
By  and  by  came  the  clever  denouement,  when,  just 
previously  to  the  execution,  the  captain  enters  with 
a  document  proving  William  to  have  been  dis- 
charged when  he  committed  the  offense.  The  at- 
tentive few  applauded  so  loudly  as  to  silence  the 
noisy  audience.  They  listened,  and  caught  up  the 
capitally  managed  incident.  The  effect  was  star- 
tling and  electrical.  The  whole  audience  leaped 
with  joy,  and  rushed  into  frantic  enthusiasm. 
Such  was  the  commencement  of  the  career  of  a 
drama  which,  in  theatrical  phrase,  has  brought 
more  money  to  manager  and  actor  than  any  piece 


dUbtoarti  ttoomig  SMbmport        41 

of  its  class,  but  to  its  author  a  sort  of  sic  vos  non 
vobis  result." 

The  long-deserted  Surrey  Theatre  slowly  began 
to  fill  nightly,  and  Elliston's  ebbing  fortunes 
turned.  All  London  flocked  across  the  Thames 
to  the  unfashionable  home  of  melodrama,  and  T.  P. 
Cooke  became  one  of  the  notabilities  of  the  day. 
A  hackney  cab  carried  him  every  evening,  all  ac- 
coutred as  he  was  in  the  sailor  garb  of  William, 
from  the  Waterloo  Road  to  Bow  Street,  so  that  he 
might  appear  in  "Black-eyed  Susan"  at  Covent 
Garden  as  well  as  at  the  old  Surrey.  On  the  even- 
ing of  the  three-hundredth  performance  the  theatre 
was  brilliantly  decorated,  and  vast  multitudes 
thronged  the  neighboring  thoroughfares.  Given 
at  Drury  Lane  later,  it  saved  the  management  from 
dire  financial  disaster,  and  for  a  generation  actors 
and  managers  in  England  and  America  reaped  a 
rich  harvest  of  pounds  and  dollars.  Testimonials 
rewarded  Cooke  and  Elliston  for  their  success,  but 
all  that  Jerrold  received  was  a  beggarly  seventy 
pounds.  When  the  play  had  run  three  hundred 
nights,  Elliston  coolly  remarked  to  Jerrold:  "My 
dear  boy,  why  don't  you  get  your  friends  to  pre- 
sent you  with  a  bit  of  plate  ?" * 

In  this  play  Mr.  Davenport  was  destined  to 
achieve  no  inconsiderable  success.  As  early  as 
1 84 1  he  had  appeared  at  the  Arch  Street  Theatre 

1  "The  Life  and  Remains  of  Douglas  Jerrold."    By  his 
son,  Blanchard  Jerrold.     Page  92. 
6 


42  %  25io0tapf}p  of 


in  Philadelphia  as  Captain  Crosstree  to  the  William 
of  Edmon  S.  Conner  and  the  Susan  of  Mrs.  W.  R. 
Blake,  and  it  was  not  long  thereafter  before  he 
began  to  act  William  with  ever-increasing  popu- 
larity. Therefore  it  was  altogether  fitting  that 
Benjamin  Webster,  at  the  conclusion  of  Mac- 
ready's  season  at  the  Haymarket  Theatre,  should 
engage  Mr.  Davenport  to  appear  in  a  special  re- 
vival of  Douglas  Jerrold's  play.  The  interview 
between  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Davenport  which 
resulted  in  this  engagement  is  thus  told  by  Howard 
Paul: 

"They  tell  me,"  observed  Webster,  "that  when 
you  were  at  the  Marylebone  you  made  quite  a  sen- 
sation as  William  in  'Black-eyed  Susan.'  " 

"It  is  true  I  did  play  it  repeatedly,  and  it  seem- 
ingly gave  satisfaction." 

"Well,  I  think  of  putting  it  up  for  you  at  the 
Haymarket  next  week.  I  had  a  note  from  Charles 
Dickens  this  morning  saying  that  he  should  feel 
great  pleasure  in  witnessing  your  representation  of 
the  character.  Mr.  Jerrold,  the  author  of  the 
piece,  has  also  more  than  once  signified  his  desire 
of  seeing  you.  What  do  you  say  ?  Suppose  I  put 
it  up  on  Monday  night  ?" 

"I  shall  be  delighted,"  replied  Davenport,  grati- 
fied at  the  good  intentions  of  his  patrons.  "And 
I  '11  tell  you.  Suppose  I  sing  two  songs  and  dance 
a  hornpipe  with  Susan.  It  may  be  a  'draw.'  As 
I  Ve  just  been  doing  Othellos  and  Rochester s,  it 
will  give  them  a  specimen  of  variety." 


€btoat&  floomte  2Dabenport        43 

"Or  of  versatility,  just  as  you  please.  It  's  a 
sealed  matter.  Up  William  goes  for  Monday,  and 
at  'half-price'  on  Tuesday  night." 
.  The  affair  was  a  notable  one.  In  the  audience 
sat  Dickens,  Thackeray,  Mark  Lemon,  Douglas 
Jerrold,  and  other  eminent  literary  men.  The  first 
piece  on  the  programme  was  "Nan  the  Good  for 
Nothing,"  a  popular  play  by  J.  B.  Buckstone,  and 
then  followed  the  feature  of  the  evening.  "Dav- 
enport, the  tragedian,"  says  a  contemporary  writer, 
"who  for  two  months  had  been  sustaining  such 
characters  as  Brutus,  Laertes,  Macduff,  and  Ulric, 
was  to  be  transformed  into  a  rollicking,  jaunty 
jack  tar.  The  transition  was  a  difficult  one,  but 
never  was  a  William  played  with  so  much  ease, 
spirit,  and  naturalness.  The  house  was  'brought 
down,'  as  the  saying  goes,  the  box  of  novelists  was 
marked  in  its  approbation,  the  ladies  wept  with  the 
trials  of  the  brave,  free-hearted  sailor,  and  sympa- 
thized with  the  virtuous  Susan — everybody,  even 
the  critic  of  the  'Times,'  was  pleased,  and  in  conse- 
quence 'Black-eyed  Susan'  revived  is  having  a 
run."  The  critic  of  the  "Times,"  least  of  all  among 
his  brethren  inclined  to  look  favorably  upon  an 
intruding  foreigner  from  America,  was  gracious 
enough  to  acknowledge  that  "the  chief  feature  of 
the  piece  was  the  performance  of  William  by  Mr. 
Davenport.  Less  nautical  in  his  manner  than  Mr. 
T.  P.  Cooke,  this  gentleman  had  nevertheless  a 
thorough  command  over  the  sympathies  of  his  au- 
dience, and  this  is  a  great  point  with  a  drama  ad- 


44  %  2E>iograpJ)p  of 


dressed  to  the  feelings.  His  hilarity  is  hearty  and 
unaffected,  his  pathos  is  manly  and  genuine,  and, 
as  an  additional  quality,  he  looks  the  part  to  per- 
fection. That  here  and  there  his  movements  be- 
came somewhat  artificial  is  not  a  fault.  Part  of 
the  piece  is  carried  on  in  pantomime  dumb  show, 
and  this  requires  a  formal  mode  of  action.  From 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  piece  he  was  ap- 
plauded not  only  by  the  hands,  but  by  the  audible 
mirth  and  visible  tears  of  his  public,  and  when  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  model  sailor  was  not  to 
be  strung  from  the  yard-arm  the  delight  expressed 
was  as  if  he  had  been  a  personal  friend  of  every- 
body present."  In  this  revival  of  "Black-eyed 
Susan"  Mrs.  Davenport  acted  the  title  role. 

Soon  after  the  end  of  his  engagement  at  the 
Haymarket  Theatre,  Mr.  Davenport  and  his  wife 
started  upon  a  tour  through  the  provincial  towns 
of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland.  At  Edinburgh, 
Glasgow,  Dublin,  and  elsewhere  their  reception 
was  enthusiastic  and  encouraging.  "The  Lady 
of  Lyons,"  "The  Corsican  Brothers,"  "Brutus," 
"Macbeth,"  and  "The  Merchant  of  Venice"  were 
among  the  plays  presented.  But  they  were  back 
in  London  again  before  long,  and  in  January,  1853, 
they  were  taking  conspicuous  parts  in  the  presen- 
tation of  Charles  Reade's  "Gold"  at  Drury  Lane, 
Mr.  Davenport  appearing  as  the  hero,  George  San- 
ford,  and  Mrs.  Davenport  as  the  heroine,  Susan 
Merton.    Edward  Stirling  is  said  to  have  been  ex- 


<£btoarb  Hoomig  SDatoenpott         45 

j , 

cellent  as  a  kind-hearted,  benevolent  Hebrew — a 
man  the  direct  antithesis  of  his  race  as  usually  pre- 
sented on  the  stage.  The  critics  decried  "Gold" 
as  a  failure,  but  it  drew  large  audiences  and  had 
an  extended  run  of  six  weeks.  The  lessee  of 
Drury  Lane  netted  £1500  as  his  share  of  the  prof- 
its. The  story  is  told  that  he,  Smith  by  name,  was 
so  involved  in  debt  that  he  contemplated  a  flight 
across  the  sea  the  moment  the  new  drama  proved 
itself  a  failure.  After  the  first  week  success  was 
assured,  but  all  that  Charles  Reade  received  for 
his  share  was  twenty  pounds  a  week  and  the 
nightly  rights  to  a  private  box.  Some  years  later 
"Gold"  was  used  as  the  basis  of  a  part  of  his  novel 
"It  is  Never  Too  Late  to  Mend."  * 

In  the  autumn  of  1853  Mr.  Davenport,  still  at 
Drury  Lane,  again  acted  opposite  roles  to  the 
tragedian  Brooke.  They  alternated  as  Othello 
and  I  ago,  and  in  the  pages  of  his  journal  Edward 
Lyman  Blanchard  records  that  on  the  9th  of  Sep- 
tember he  went  to  Drury  Lane,  where  he  found 
"Brooke's  Othello  a  mistake  altogether,"  and  that 
on  the  following  evening  he  saw  Brooke  as  Iago 
and  Davenport  as  Othello — "latter  very  fine."  The 
manager  of  Drury  Lane,  the  same  Smith  who  had 
been  put  on  his  feet  by  Charles  Reade's  "Gold," 
had  announced  his  star  as  "that  unparalleled  trage- 

1  "Charles  Reade,  Dramatist,  Novelist,  Journalist."  By 
Charles  L.  Reade  and  the  Rev.  Compton  Reade.  New 
York,  1887.     Pages  246,  247. 


46  %  2&togra#!>p  of 


dian,  Mr.  Brooke,"  and  of  course  Mr.  Davenport 
figured  only  secondarily  on  the  play-bills  and  the 
placards.  Thereafter  for  a  year  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Davenport  filled  their  time  with  important  engage- 
ments here  and  there  in  the  British  theatres. 

The  day  of  their  departure  came  at  last,  Mr.  Dav- 
enport to  return  to  the  country  of  his  birth,  from 
which  he  had  been  absent  almost  seven  years,  and 
Mrs.  Davenport  to  accompany  her  husband  to  a 
new  land  wherein  she  was  to  continue  the  success 
already  achieved  in  her  native  England.  On  the 
1 2th  of  August  they  set  sail  for  New  York.  Dur- 
ing his  professional  career  abroad  Mr.  Davenport 
had  established  a  reputation  for  solid  worth  as  an 
actor,  and  as  the  news  of  his  success  had  from  time 
to  time  crossed  the  ocean,  it  was  natural  that  his 
return  should  be  looked  forward  to  at  home  with 
much  pleasant  anticipation.  His  friends  welcomed 
him  heartily,  and  the  newspapers  of  the  day  con- 
tain many  warm  words  of  cordial  and  flattering 
greeting. 

It  was  in  1852,  during  his  sojourn  in  England, 
that  Bayle  Bernard  wrote  of  Mr.  Davenport: 

If  Mr.  Forrest  and  Mr.  Hackett  have  been  recognized 
as  the  tragedian  and  comedian  of  America,  Mr.  Daven- 
port stands  between  them,  partaking  the  powers  of  both, 
if  not  to  the  extent  of  either.  He  is  the  tragi-comic 
genius,  which  holds  the  same  place  on  the  stage  that  the 
romantic  play  does  in  the  drama — that  mixture  of  humor 
and  passion  which  has  always  been  a  compound  most 


<£&toarti  £oomi£  SDatoenport        47 


agreeable  to  English  feelings.  That  most  plastic  class 
of  faculty  which  makes  some  sacrifice  of  depth  in  order 
to  increase  its  range  of  surface,  and  which  passes  with 
equal  truth  from  a  Benedick  to  a  Romeo,  and  Jafiier  to  a 
Faulconbridge,  has  been  illustrated  in  our  time  by  the 
genius  of  Charles  Kemble,  and  will  soon  have  no  expo- 
nent as  accomplished  as  Mr.  Davenport.  Thus  we  see 
his  greatest  distinction — an  extraordinary  versatility  in 
which  he  has  no  rival,  with  the  sole  exception  of  James 
Wallack,  and  for  which  his  physical  endowments  are 
quite  commensurate  with  his  mental.  Nature  has  been 
most  liberal,  and  his  taste  and  artistic  feeling  show  his 
sense  of  the  obligation.  He  has  an  open,  well-marked 
countenance,  expressive  eyes  and  pliant  brow,  a  voice  that 
is  clear  and  flexible,  and  a  well-formed,  manly  person. 


CHAPTER  V 

AN  engagement  at  the  Broadway  Theatre  in  New 
£jL  York  awaited  Mr.  Davenport  upon  his  return, 
and  on  Monday  evening,  the  nth  of  September, 
1854,  he  reappeared  before  the  American  public  in 
the  character  of  Othello.  The  theatre  was  crowded 
to  the  doors,  and  his  reception  made  him  doubly 
glad  that  at  last  he  had  forsaken  England  for 
America.  There  was  considerable  interest  shown 
on  the  part  of  those  present  as  to  whether  his  long 
residence  abroad  had  developed  in  him  any  objec- 
tionable "mannerisms"  of  speech  or  bearing,  but 
it  was  soon  found  that  he  was  the  same  Davenport 
who  had  gone  away  seven  years  before,  improved 
of  course  by  the  flight  of  time  and  the  advantage  of 
wide  and  diversified  experience.  The  performance 
was  in  every  way  a  gratifying  success.  The  "Her- 
ald" of  the  following  morning  thus  described  the 
occasion  in  detail : 

The  first  appearance  of  Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport,  after  an 
absence  of  seven  years  from  his  native  country,  during 
which  he  has  gradually  won  his  way  to  fame  in  the  higher 
walks  of  the  drama,  drew  a  crowded  and  brilliant  audi- 
ence to  the  Broadway  last  night.  From  our  previous 
48 


<£btoar&  Hoomi£  SDatoenport        49 


recollection  of  his  earlier  career  as  a  respectable  actor  in 
melodramatic  pieces,  we  confess  that  we  did  not  antici- 
pate his  achieving  any  high  degree  of  success  in  the 
ambitious  part  which  he  had  selected  for  his  debut,  and 
which  offered  so  many  opportunities  of  contrast  with  the 
triumphs  won  in  it  by  some  of  his  more  celebrated  prede- 
cessors. It  was  a  severe  ordeal  for  an  actor  to  pass 
through,  and  in  saying  that  Mr.  Davenport  fully  justi- 
fied expectations  that  had  been  framed  from  the  high 
reputation  that  had  preceded  him  from  England,  we  only 
give  effect  to  the  unanimous  verdict  of  the  audience  of 
last  evening.  His  Othello  differs  in  many  material  re- 
spects from  the  impersonations  of  that  character  to  which 
we  have  been  accustomed;  but  its  departure  from  the 
old  standard  of  recognized  excellence  only  served  to 
demonstrate  more  forcibly  the  correctness  of  his  taste 
and  to  stamp  him  at  once  as  an  actor  of  original  con- 
ceptions and  of  unquestionable  genius.  In  his  natural 
and  truthful  rendering  of  those  delicate  and  sensitive 
qualities  of  the  Moor's  character  which  are  in  general 
lost  in  the  effort  to  give  an  ad  captandum  effect  to  it, 
and  in  his  entire  avoidance  of  those  violent  exaggerations 
which,  however  they  may  please  the  multitude,  are  as 
offensive  to  good  taste  as  they  are  false  to  the  spirit  of 
the  text,  and  in  the  concentration  and  intensity  of  his 
emotions,  he  approaches  nearer  the  French  school  of 
tragedy  than  any  actor  we  have  as  yet  seen.  When,  in 
addition  to  those  qualities,  we  state  that  he  has  a  fine  per- 
son, a  nobly  framed  head  and  expressive  features,  and  a 
soft  and  musical  voice,  we  describe  an  appearance  calcu- 
lated to  make  no  common  impression  upon  an  audience. 

After  what  we  have  stated,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  for 
us  to  say  that  Mr.  Davenport's  debut  last  night  was  as 
successful  as  his  most  sincere  well-wishers  could  desire. 
On  his  first  appearance  he  was  hailed,  in  his  quality  of  an 
old  friend  returning  to  his  native  land  laden  with  honors, 

7 


so  %  2&iD0tap|)p  of 


with  a  cordial  welcome  from  all  parts  of  the  house;  as 
the  piece  progressed  this  feeling  warmed  into  enthusiasm, 
and  after  the  third  act  he  was  called  before  the  curtain 
to  receive  a  fresh  tribute  of  applause.  At  the  termina- 
tion of  the  piece  the  house  rang  with  plaudits,  and,  in 
obedience  to  a  general  call,  Mr.  Davenport  came  for- 
ward and  addressed  the  audience  as  follows: 

"Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  There  are  moments  when 
the  heart  falters,  the  lip  quivers,  and  the  tongue  almost 
refuses  its  office.  It  is  not  always  fear  of  honor,  disap- 
pointment or  reverse  of  fortune  that  causes  either;  for 
in  my  case  I  will  assert  that  your  reception  this  evening, 
on  my  return  to  my  dear  native  land,  has  so  completely 
overpowered  me  that  I  fear  I  cannot  find  words  to  ex- 
press the  emotions  that  fill  my  breast.  I  had  indeed 
hoped  for  a  hearty  welcome.  I  felt  that  I  should  be  sur- 
rounded by  true  friends,  with  open  hands  to  welcome 
the  wanderer  home — hands  with  hearts  in  them — but  my 
wildest  imagination,  my  fondest  hopes,  could  never  have 
painted  such  a  triumphant  moment.  Seven  years  absent, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  during  which  time  Heaven  has 
been  pleased  to  give  me  health  and  strength  to  combat 
against  all  obstacles  and  difficulties,  to  overleap  all  bar- 
riers that  beset  the  actor's  path  (and,  believe  me,  in  our 
mimic  world  they  are  not  few),  to  live  down  by  close 
study,  intense  application,  and  an  indomitable  persever- 
ance any  little  prejudice  that  might  naturally  exist  toward 
a  stranger.  I  have  found  myself  nightly  standing  beside 
the  greatest  artists  of  the  land,  and  my  humble  efforts 
have  been  received  with  most  flattering  favor,  and,  if  I 
may  credit  all  that  has  been  told  me,  often  sharing  the 
honors  of  the  occasion.  It  was  not  the  echoing  shout  of 
applause,  the  approbation  nightly  showered  upon  me,  the 
warm  grasp  of  congratulating  hands  on  all  sides  extended 
toward  me  that  made  my  heart  swell  with  joy  and  my 
foot  tread  firmly,  but  it  was  the  innate  pride  that  I  was 


<£btoar&  3ioomi£  SDabenpott         5* 


an  American,  a  son  of  that  bright  and  beautiful  land 
which  claims  and  cherishes  as  its  own  the  star-spangled 
banner,  whose  sons  know  no  such  word  as  fail — that  land 
that  will  stand  preeminent  and  proud  amid  the  wreck 
of  empires  and  the  dissolution  of  monarchies,  envied  and 
admired  by  all  the  world.  And  the  day  that  marked  my 
return  was  hailed  with  joy.  I  felt  that  a  bright  future 
awaited  me  there;  the  laborer  had  proved  worthy  of  his 
hire,  and  was  to  receive  at  the  hands  of  his  own  coun- 
trymen the  confirmation  of  the  stamp  given  abroad,  with- 
out which  it  had  been  valueless.  To-night  has  proved 
they  are  not  ashamed  of  their  own  Yankee  boy,  and 
the  recollection  of  this  kind  reception  will  live  forever  in 
my  memory.  And  now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  cannot 
close  without  telling  you  how  anxious  I  have  felt  in  again 
resuming  my  career  at  home.  I  well  know  that  others 
have  preceded  me  of  far  greater  merit  and  more  ex- 
perience, and  one,  in  particular,  whose  recent  triumphs 
on  these  very  boards  have  proved  his  greatness,  whose 
transcendent  genius  and  talent  have  made  him  the  darling 
of  his  countrymen;  for  they  can  point  to  him  and  chal- 
lenge the  world  to  produce  his  equal.  The  recollection 
of  his  masterly  performances  will  live  forever,  and  show 
to  mankind  that,  like  the  immortal  bard  whose  work  he 
so  ably  portrays,  'he  is  not  for  a  day,  but  for  all  time.' 
But  your  generous  welcome  to-night  has  proved  that  you 
have  hearts  large  enough  not  only  to  contain  the  old 
favorite  and  unapproachable  actor,  but  that  you  have  also 
a  little  corner  for  the  new-comer  who  so  tremblingly 
awaited  your  verdict.  I  sincerely  hope  that  this  may  be 
but  an  earnest  of  his  future  success,  and  that  time  will 
give  him  a  more  extended  home  in  your  good  opinions." 

"The  Lady  of  Lyons"  and  "The  Wife"  were  also 
given,  and  for  the  closing  night  of  the  first  week 


s2  31 2&io0ta#)p  of 


of  the  engagement  the  play-bill  records  "the  sixth 
appearance  of  Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport,  the  eminent 
tragedian,  returned  from  Europe  after  an  absence 
of  six  years,  who  will  present  the  great  play,  in  five 
acts,  as  produced  by  him  at  the  Theatre  Royal, 
Drury  Lane,  with  immense  success,  called  'St. 
Marc ;  or,  A  Husband's  Sacrifice,'  by  the  late  John 
H.  Wilkins,  Esq."     The  cast  included : 

St.  Marc E.  L.  Davenport. 

Gismando F.  B.  Conway. 

Lorenzo Mr.  Gallagher. 

Rosario "J.  Grosvenor. 

Balcastro M.  W.  Leffingwell. 

Dianora Mme.  Ponisi. 

Theresa Mrs.  Abbott. 

Carolea Miss  Wallis. 

"The  whole  to  conclude  with  the  Nautical 
Drama  of  'Black-eyed  Susan ;  or,  All  in  the  Downs.' 
William,  a  sailor,  Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport,  with  Lef- 
fingwell as  the  Admiral,  Davidge  as  Gnatbrain, 
Seymour  as  Jacob  Twigg,  Mme.  Ponisi  as  Susan, 
and  Josie  Gougenheim  as  Dolly  Mayflower"  Thus 
concluded  the  play-bill.  In  his  entertaining  vol- 
ume entitled  "Plays  and  Players,"  Laurence  Hut- 
ton  writes : 

The  Old  Broadway  and  its  surroundings  are  among 
the  things  that  are  past  and  gone,  but  the  memory  of 
this  evening  is  "as  green  as  Christmas  garlands" — for 
it  was  the  first  evening,  to  us  personally,  of  E.  L.  Daven- 


<£btoar&  Eoomi£  SPatoenport         53 


port,  and  the  first  time  we  had  ever  seen  Jerrold's  now 
so  familiar  tale  of  the  sea.  We  do  not  know  which  im- 
pressed us  more,  the  William  of  Davenport,  or  the  Black- 
eyed  Susan,  not  of  Mme.  Ponisi,  though  she  was  very 
good,  but  of  Jerrold  himself;  whether  it  was  the  play  or 
the  player  that  moved  us — but  moved  we  were,  and  the 
night  we  have  never  forgotten.  Mr.  Davenport  had  come 
back  to  his  home  and  his  American  friends  covered  with 
dramatic  laurels,  cordially  bestowed  by  the  critics  and 
theatre-going  population  of  England,  where  he  had  been 
pronounced  "an  artist  equalled  by  few,  and  surpassed  by 
none,  in  his  profession,"  and  his  reception  here  had  been 
very  kind  and  hearty.  We  do  not  propose  now  to  com- 
ment upon  "St.  Marc."  Mr.  Davenport  has  often  played 
the  part  in  New  York,  and  only  a  few  seasons  ago  at 
Wood's  Museum  on  Broadway.  Our  business  in  this 
present  chapter  is  with  the  afterpiece  of  "Black-eyed 
Susan." 

Mr.  Davenport's  reputation  as  William  had  been  estab- 
lished over  the  water,  and  had  preceded  him  here;  it 
was  much  discussed  before  it  was  produced;  anticipation 
among  the  habitues  of  Broadway  was  great;  reports  as 
to  how  strong  a  character  William,  in  the  hands  of  a 
true  artist,  could  be  made  were  rife,  and  it  was  even 
currently  reported  that  George  Frederick  Cooke  himself, 
the  great  nautical  actor  of  the  past,1  was  only  an  ordi- 
nary seaman  as  compared.  His  namesake,  Mr.  T.  P. 
Cooke,  the  original  William — William  the  First  of  the 
London  stage — had  rested  a  very  successful  dramatic  rep- 
utation upon  the  part;  but  it  was  confidently  stated,  in 

1  Mr.  Hutton  evidently  confuses  George  Frederick 
Cooke  with  T.  P.  Cooke,  whom  he  mentions  in  the  next 
sentence.  George  Frederick  Cooke  was  a  tragedian,  and 
was  in  no  way  renowned  for  his  acting  of  nautical  char- 
acters. 


54  %  2&ograj>f)p  of 


advance  of  its  presentation  here,  that  this  exponent  of  the 
character  was  the  superior  of  all  his  predecessors.  On 
the  Saturday  evening  in  question,  the  sixth  night  of  his 
engagement,  but  the  first,  we  believe  of  "Black-eyed 
Susan,"  the  critics  (there  were  not  many  of  them  pro- 
fessional critics  in  those  days,  for  dramatic  editors  were 
not  so  common  then  as  now)  were  present  in  full  force, 
and  the  denizens  of  the  old  right-hand  corner  of  the  pit 
still  speak  enthusiastically  of  the  occasion. 

The  five  acts  of  "St.  Marc"  were  duly  listened  to  and 
enjoyed,  and  the  event  of  the  evening  was  "rung  up" 
on  a  house  well  filled  and  kindly  disposed.  The  opening 
scenes  were  not  of  thrilling  interest ;  Susan  was  duly  ad- 
mired, and  the  usual  sympathy  felt  for  her  and  for  "the 
pangs,  the  dreadful  pangs,  that  tear  the  sailor's  wife,  as, 
wakeful  on  her  tear-wet  pillow,  she  lists  and  trembles  at 
the  roaring  sea."  Doggrass  made  himself  odious  in  the 
eyes  of  the  gallery;  Gnatbrain  threw  the  rolling-pin  at 
him,  and  won  a  round  of  gallery  applause;  Hatchet  paid 
the  rent;  Susan  retired  to  her  tear- wet  pillow  to  list 
again,  and  so  forth,  when  scene  fourth  is  on,  "All  in 
the  Downs,"  and  enter  Davenport  as  William;  and,  oh, 
how  briny  a  William  in  every  look,  and  action,  and  ac- 
cent, and  hitch  of  trousers,  of  the  salt  sea  salty  was 
William.  What  a  shivering  of  timbers  was  there,  and 
what  splicings  of  the  main  brace,  and  what  belayings  and 
what  running  over  at  the  scuppers,  ye  lubbers !  were 
there  when  he  embraced  his  Susan!  The  first  three 
scenes  were  but  the  prologue,  and  the  play  itself  did 
not  begin  until  William  appeared,  or  the  interest  ripen 
until  actual  trouble  came  to  Susan's  natural  protector, 
when  the  captain  was  upset,  and  the  audience  discovered 
who  the  victim  of  the  protector's  just  indignation  was, 
and  the  result  to  William  of  such  a  blow  to  his  superior 
officer. 

Davenport's  acting  in  the  final  scene  of  the  first  act, 


<£btoarb  Sioomi£  SDatoenpott*         55 


when  it  was  divested  of  the  "clapping-on-of-the-main- 
top-bowline,"  and  all  of  that  ordinary  nautical  drama 
business,  was  very  powerful,  and  marked  with  an  earnest- 
ness and  artistic  effect  that  the  part  of  William,  or  its 
kindred  parts,  rarely  receives ;  and  it  became  apparent 
to  the  audience  that  rumor  for  the  once  had  been  correct, 
and  that  there  was  something  very  much  out  of  the  com- 
mon in  the  representation.  What  has  been  poetically 
called  "the  sugar  of  the  performance"  seemed,  as  it  were, 
to  have  been  salted  to  the  listeners;  the  curtain  went 
down  on  the  first  grand  tableau  to  slow  music,  and  on 
an  audience  whose  subdued  silence  attested  the  strong 
effect  produced,  the  whole  house  seeming  to  have  entered 
into  the  nautical  spirit  of  the  play,  and  to  have  tapped 
its  briny. 

With  Act  II,  "The  Court  Martial,"  we  were  particu- 
larly impressed.  Hardly,  we  think,  in  the  range  of 
drama,  can  the  proverb  of  the  short  step  from  the  sub- 
lime to  the  ridiculous  find  so  apt  an  illustration  as  in  an 
indifferent,  and  if  indifferent  necessarily  ridiculous  per- 
formance of  this  court-martial  scene.  In  an  artist's 
hands,  and  with  artistic  support,  it  is  sublime,  almost, 
as  Portia's  famous  scene  with  the  Jew  before  the  Duke 
and  the  Magnificoes  of  Venice;  but  when  badly  played, 
how  flat,  stale,  and  unprofitable  it  becomes.  We  remem- 
ber, not  many  years  ago,  how  the  miseries  of  a  very 
creditable  William  were  entirely  forgotten  by  a  Brooklyn 
audience  one  evening,  on  account  of  the  ridiculous  bear- 
ing of  the  supers  who  played  the  twelve  post-captains 
of  the  fleet,  and  by  the  mirth-provoking  delivery  of 
"Witnesses  for  the  Prisoner,"  "The  Prisoner,"  "The  Pris- 
oner," as  passed  on  by  the  prompter. 

But  to  return  to  Mr.  Davenport  and  this  performance 
in  question.  There  are  occasions  when  the  almost  magnetic 
influence  of  a  thoroughly  appreciative  audience  can  so 
stimulate  and  exalt  an  actor  that  the  character  he  enacts 


56  %  2&ograpf)p  of 


becomes  an  inspiration  in  his  hands,  and  for  this  William 
and  its  impersonator,  this  first  time  we  saw  Mr.  Davenport 
in  the  part,  we  claim  this  inspiration ;  he  carried  the  house 
with  him;  and  this  fact  and  the  fact  that  he  felt  it  added 
"fresh  fuel  to  the  fire  of  his  genius."  One  of  the  stan- 
dard jokes  of  the  play,  the  only  "funny  business"  in  the 
trial  scene,  the  reply  of  the  boatswain,  Mr.  Quid,  to  the 
Admiral's  inquiry  as  to  William's  moral  character:  "His 
moral  character,  your  honor?  Why,  he  plays  on  the 
fiddle  like  an  angel !"  provoked  not  a  smile ;  it  seemed 
irreverent  to  laugh,  the  audience  grasping  at  any  straw 
in  William's  favor.  The  decision  of  the  court,  "Guilty," 
and  the  reading  of  the  sentence,  "Death,"  were  terrible 
blows  to  William's  scores  of  friends  before  the  foot- 
lights; and  William's  subdued  "Poor  Susan"  found  echo 
in  every  sympathizing  heart  in  the  audience. 

The  interest  in  the  drama,  however,  did  not  reach  its 
intensest  point  until  the  last  scene  of  all — the  execution. 
The  farewells  with  his  shipmates  and  friends,  the  last 
dying  gifts  and  bequests,  and  his  parting  from  Susan 
were  all  very  harrowing,  and  very  real,  and  very  chok- 
ing; but  the  culmination  was  William's  standing  under 
the  yard-arm,  his  bare  neck  ready  for  the  rope  that  was 
"to  launch"  him,  the  parson  on  the  black  platform,  the 
twelve  melancholy-looking  captains,  the  grief-stricken 
Admiral  Leffingwell,  and  "the  entrance  of  Captain  Cross- 
tree  with  his  pardon,  and  his  honorable  and  explanatory 
speech.    Never  was  a  Captain  Crosstree  so  well  received ! 

We  do  not  recall  many  evenings  where  a  great  actor 
has  so  controlled  and  moved  his  audience  as  did  Mr.  Dav- 
enport, and  as  we  look  back,  and  compare  it  with  the 
playing  of  other  actors,  we  can  only  account  for  it  as  a 
true  artist's  handling  of  an  impressive  part. 

The  tour  thus  begun  so  auspiciously  at  the 
Broadway  Theatre  continued  without  interruption 


(gbtoarb  Eoomtg  SDatoenport         57 

during  the  season  of  1854-55,  Mr.  Davenport's 
repertory  including  such  characters,  in  addition  to 
those  already  mentioned,  as  Othello, Brutus,  Claude 
Melnotte,  Benedick,  Hamlet,  Richard  III,  and  the 
Stranger.  He  went  from  New  York  to  Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore,  Cincinnati,  and  St.  Louis,  and  on 
the  first  day  of  the  New  Year  (1855)  he  began  an 
engagement  at  the  Boston  Theatre  in  his  native 
city.  A  banner  flung  across  the  street  opposite  the 
theatre  bore  the  legend,  "Welcome  Home,  E.  L. 
Davenport,"  and  the  front  of  the  theatre  was  elabo- 
rately decorated.  The  play  was  "Hamlet,"  and 
the  cast  was : 


Hamlet E.  L.  Davenport. 

The  Ghost H.  F.  Daly. 

Claudius G.  W.  Johnson. 

Polonius John  Gilbert. 

Laertes J.  B.  Howe. 

Osric George  Pauncefort. 

Horatio Thomas  Barry. 

Rosencrants G.  Johnson. 

Guildenstem N.  T.  Davenport. 

Marcellus Mr.  Lyster. 

Bernardo "     Forrester. 

Francisco "     Gouldson. 

Priest "     Harcourt. 

Lucianus "     Holmes. 

Player  King William  Cowell. 

First  Gravedigger John  Wood. 

Second  Gravedigger S.  D.  Johnson. 

Queen  Gertrude Mrs.  H.  P.  Grattan. 

Ophelia  . Julia  Bennett  Barrow. 

8 


58  91  25iogtap|)p  of 


The  programme  concluded  with  the  farce  "Boots 
at  the  Swan,"  in  which  Mr.  Davenport  did  not 
appear.  He  remained  at  the  Boston  Theatre  two 
weeks,  appearing  successively  as  Othello,  St.  Marc, 
the  Stranger,  William  in  "Black-eyed  Susan," 
Richard  III,  and  Brutus  in  John  Howard  Payne's 
tragedy  of  that  name.  His  popularity  was  suffi- 
cient to  demand  his  further  stay  in  Boston  after 
the  close  of  his  engagement  at  the  Boston  Theatre, 
and  he  went  directly  thence  to  the  Boston  Mu- 
seum, where,  on  the  226.  of  January,  he  began  a 
season  which  was  prolonged  for  an  entire  month. 
He  opened  in  "St.  Marc,"  and  then  presented  suc- 
cessively "Black-eyed  Susan,"  "Virginius,"  "Wil- 
liam Tell,"  "The  Noble  Heart,"  "The  Bride  of 
Lammermoor,"  and  "The  Honeymoon."  On  an 
evening  of  this  engagement  Mr.  Davenport  was 
playing  the  title  role  of  William  Tell  in  his  best 
manner.  In  the  last  scene,  just  before  the  shoot- 
ing of  the  apple  from  Albert's  head,  a  bow  was 
handed  the  hero,  who  thus  apostrophized  it : 

Thou  wilt  not  fail  thy  master,  wilt  thou? 

Thou  hast  never  failed  him  yet,  old  servant.     No, 

I  'm  sure  of  thee — I  acknowledge  thy  honesty; 

Thou  'rt  staunch — I  'd  deserve  to  find  thee  treacherous 

Could  I  suspect  thee  so. 

Come,  I  will  stake  my  all  upon  thee ! 

At  the  final  words,  he  pulled  the  bow-string 
with  the  arrow  in  position.     It  slipped.     He  tried 


€btoart>  Hoomi£  SDatomport        59 

to  replace  the  string  upon  the  bow,  but  the  loop 
was  broken.  A  piece  of  twine  was  adroitly  handed 
him  from  the  wings.  He  fastened  it  to  the  string, 
but  even  then  the  instrument  failed  to  work.  The 
audience  began  to  grow  uneasy,  the  actors  nervous, 
and  the  prompter  hysterical.  A  special  messenger 
was  despatched  to  the  property-room  for  another 
bow,  which  was  at  last  handed  to  the  anxious  actor. 
This  too  was  a  failure,  and  not  until  a  third  bow 
was  brought  did  the  scene  proceed.  On  being 
called  before  the  curtain  at  the  close  of  the  per- 
formance, Mr.  Davenport  remarked  that  the  little 
mishap  of  the  evening  had  demonstrated  the  "value 
of  having  two  strings  to  one's  bow." 

The  Boston  engagement  was  followed,  on  Feb- 
ruary 19,  1855,  by  a  return  to  New  York,  and  a 
second  season  at  the  Broadway  Theatre.  "Ham- 
let" was  given  on  the  opening  night,  and  a  revival 
of  "Othello"  followed  on  the  20th,  while  on  the 
28th  came  the  first  performance  in  New  York  of 
"The  Egyptian;  or,  The  Fall  of  Palmyra,"  with 
Mr.  Davenport  and  Madame  Ponisi  in  the  leading 
roles  of  Abdas  and  Julia.  The  notable  feature  of 
this  engagement  was  the  first  appearance  of  Mrs. 
Davenport  on  the  American  stage,  the  occasion 
being  Mr.  Davenport's  benefit,  the  date  the  2d 
of  March,  and  the  play  "Love's  Sacrifice."  Mrs. 
Davenport  appeared  as  Margaret  Elmore,  and  Mr. 
Davenport  as  Matthezv  Elmore.  The  "Tribune" 
on  the  following  morning  contained  this  account: 


6o  %  2&ograpl)p  of 


One  of  the  most  hearty  welcomes  ever  given  to  a 
stranger  by  a  New  York  audience  was  accorded  last 
evening  to  Miss  Fanny  Vining,  who  made  her  first  ap- 
pearance in  America  at  the  Broadway  Theatre.  The 
occasion  was  the  benefit  of  Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport,  and 
the  play  selected  was  Lovell's  well-known  "Love's  Sac- 
rifice." Miss  Vining  does  not  come  among  us  unher- 
alded; the  English  journals  have  borne  their  testimony 
of  the  estimation  in  which  she  is  held  in  London,  where 
she  has  long  been  connected  with  the  Drury  Lane  Thea- 
tre, and  where  her  ability  is  unquestioned.  She  is  suf- 
ficiently mature  in  years  to  have  outgrown  faults  of  inex- 
perience, and  she  has  attained  a  point  of  excellence  which 
is  only  to  be  reached  by  long  and  careful  cultivation  of 
talent  naturally  far  above  the  average.  She  is  a  lady  of 
medium  height,  and  not  by  any  means  majestic  in  ap- 
pearance; her  voice  is  clear,  distinct,  and  well  modu- 
lated; her  movements  graceful,  her  countenance  expres- 
sive, her  gestures  quick  and  passionate,  and  her  whole 
style  of  playing  rather  of  the  impulsive  order.  She  reads 
well;  her  enunciation,  though  sometimes  rapid,  is  dis- 
tinct and  totally  free  from  that  sing-song  manner  which 
is  frequently  such  a  sorry  blemish  in  a  performance 
otherwise  good.  Her  quiet  scenes  were  played  with  a 
deep  pathos  which  showed  at  the  same  time  her  appre- 
hension of  the  author's  meaning  and  her  own  artistic 
skill,  and  the  passionate  passages  were  given  with  an 
energy  which  brought  down  the  house  in  good,  solid 
earnest  She  was  called  before  the  curtain  at  the  end  of 
the  third  act,  and  also  at  the  conclusion  of  the  play,  and 
on  making  her  appearance  with  Mr.  Davenport  was 
greeted  with  an  applauding  shout  which  bore  testimony  of 
the  favor  with  which  her  efforts  were  received. 

During  the  Philadelphia  engagement  which  fol- 
lowed the  season  in  New  York,  Mrs.  Davenport 


<£btoatb  floomig  SDatompott        6i 

played  Rosalind  to  the  Jaques  of  Mr.  Davenport, 
Ophelia  to  his  Hamlet,  Beatrice  to  his  Benedick, 
and  Donna  Alda  to  his  acting  of  the  title  character 
in  George  Henry  Boker's  tragedy  "Calaynos." 
This  play  had  been  published  some  years  pre- 
viously, and  had  been  given  on  the  stage  in  Eng- 
land by  Samuel  Phelps  and  in  America  by  James 
E.  Murdoch.  Its  revival  by  Mr.  Davenport  in  Mr. 
Boker's  own  city  was  eagerly  anticipated  by  Phila- 
delphians,  and  the  fact  that  it  was  presented  for 
Mrs.  Davenport's  benefit  added  appreciably  to  the 
general  interest.  "Calaynos"  was  repeated  several 
times  at  the  Walnut  Street  Theatre.  "Richard  III" 
was  also  given,  and  on  the  20th  of  April  Mr.  Dav- 
enport was  tendered  a  testimonial,  at  which  he  ap- 
peared as  Hamlet.  From  Philadelphia  he  went  to 
Providence  for  a  brief  engagement,  Mrs.  Davenport 
returning  to  New  York  to  appear  on  the  7th  of  May 
as  Juliet  and  on  the  9th  in  "Charity's  Love"  at  the 
Broadway  Theatre,  where  Mr.  Davenport  rejoined 
her  on  the  14th.  The  opening  play  was  "Love  and 
Loyalty,"  by  William  Robson,  then  given  for  the 
first  time  in  New  York;  and  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  two  weeks'  season  they  appeared  in 
"Othello,"  "Much  Ado  about  Nothing,"  "Love's 
Sacrifice,"  "A  Morning  Call,"  "The  Merchant  of 
Venice,"  "Black-eyed  Susan,"  and  "A  New  Way 
to  Pay  Old  Debts,"  in  the  latter  play  Mrs.  Daven- 
port appearing  as  Margaret.  The  ensuing  criti- 
cisms from  the  New  York  "Tribune"  will  give 


62  31 2&ograi%  of 


some  idea  of  the  impression  created  by  Mr.  Daven- 
port in  these  great  Shaksperian  characters : 

It  is  impossible  to  judge  in  ordinary  plays,  as  in  ordi- 
nary actions,  of  the  performer's  power  and  capacity.  It 
requires  a  Shaksperian  play  in  one,  as  a  great  crisis  in 
the  other,  to  test  the  mettle  of  the  man.  ...  It  is 
impossible  to  describe  that  strange  power  which  at  once 
fixes  and  enchains  you,  gathers  in  your  feelings  in  its 
giant  grasp,  and  holds  for  a  time  a  mastery  of  your 
being,  making  you  smile,  weep,  dream,  scorn,  or  love,  as 
it  lists.  In  Mr.  Davenport  this  power  finds  no  dwelling. 
The  absence  of  this  power,  not  that  of  taste,  made  him 
unnatural.  Mr.  Davenport's  delivery  lacked  spirit.  This 
was  evident  in  the  first  act,  when  he  mourns  over  the 
frivolity  of  his  mother.  .  .  .  On  the  appearance  of 
the  Ghost,  though  neither  the  attitude  nor  expression 
conveyed  correctly  the  surprise  of  sudden  terror,  Mr. 
Davenport  was  sufficiently  effective  while  addressing  the 
Ghost  in  the  agony  of  excitement;  but  when  the  Ghost 
begins  to  speak,  Mr.  Davenport  goes  too  far  in  his  effort 
to  look  petrified.  Hamlet  is  powerfully  agitated,  but 
though  his  whole  being  is  convulsed  by  the  horrible  dis- 
closure, life  is  not  suspended.  But  Mr.  Davenport  stands 
so  cold  and  dead  as  to  far  more  resemble  his  father's 
Ghost  than  that  individual  itself.  ...  In  the  last 
scene  of  the  second  act,  where  Hamlet's  imagination,  in- 
fluenced by  the  interview  with  the  actors,  suggests  to  his 
rich  mind  so  many  eloquent  reflections,  Mr.  Davenport, 
entering  more  into  the  spirit  of  the  scene,  warms  up,  and 
when  he  exclaims, 

"He  would  drown  the  stage  with  tears, 
And  cleave  the  general  ear  with  horrid  speech; 
Make  mad  the  guilty  and  appal  the  free," 


V 


MR.  DAVENPORT  AS  HAMLET. 


<£btoart>  ffioomig  SDatoenport        63 


he  is  very  effective;  and  when,  this  warmth  mounting 
into  a  paroxysm  of  rage,  he  calls  the  King 

"Bloody,  bawdy  villain! 
"Remorseless,  treacherous,  lecherous,  kindless  villain!" 

he  sweeps  the  audience  with  him,  and  brings  down  de- 
served applause.  But  on  his  appearance  in  the  third  act, 
Mr.  Davenport  again  resumes  his  lifeless  air.  .  .  . 
On  meeting  Ophelia,  Mr.  Davenport  is  more  excited,  and 
the  audience  at  once  feels  it. 

As  an  offset  to  this  criticism  it  may  be  well  to 
call  to  mind  the  fact  that  when  Salvini  first  visited 
this  country,  some  fifteen  years  later,  he  expressed 
a  desire  to  be  introduced  to  Mr.  Davenport  after 
having  witnessed  his  performance  of  "Hamlet." 
He  was  accordingly  taken  behind  the  scenes, 
greeted  his  American  comrade  warmly,  and  ex- 
claimed :  "Anima !    Animal"     ("Soul!     Soul!") 

The  same  critic  thus  referred  at  length  to  Mr. 
Davenport's  Richard  III: 

Mr.  Davenport  is  infinitely  more  qualified  for  Richard 
than  for  Hamlet.  The  lack  of  fire  and  deficiency  of  power 
which  we  pointed  out  as  his  chief  defects  are  more 
apparent  when  his  face  is  in  repose  and  when  he  moves 
about  the  stage  without  being  stirred  by  any  active  im- 
pulse. .  .  .  When  Richard,  rushing  on  the  stage,  at 
once  breaks  into  a  burst  of  passion,  Mr.  Davenport's 
face  and  attitude  powerfully  represent  the  workings  of 
those  hellish  fiends  of  ambition,  shame,  and  revenge  on 
his   fellows   for  his   deformity   which   riot  at  Richard's 


64  %  S&ogtapJjp  of 


heart,  and  he  casts  on  the  audience  a  fit  shadow  of  the 
villain  king.  Nor  is  there  anything  in  Mr.  Davenport's 
conception  of  Richard's  physical  attributes  to  break  the 
illusion.  There  was  that,  too,  in  his  stealthy  movement 
and  watchfulness  of  eye  which  conveyed  a  most  correct 
idea  of  Richard's  infernal  hypocrisy.  Were  Mr.  Daven- 
port to  assume  a  little  more  ungainliness  of  person,  and 
throw  a  stronger  dash  of  devil  over  his  face,  he  would 
be,  as  far  as  personnel  is  concerned,  the  best  representative 
of  Richard  upon  the  stage.  When  he  begins  to  speak,  his 
lack  of  physical  power  becomes  apparent.  Occasionally  he 
speaks  with  unction  and  animation,  but  unless  it  is  sus- 
tained throughout  with  unbroken  energy,  and  the  ve- 
hemences of  utterance  suited  to  the  vehemence  of  senti- 
ment, occasional  efforts  fail  to  reach  the  mind  where  the 
attention  has  been  impaired  by  previous  weakness,  and 
the  unity  is  thus  lost.  We  miss,  too,  the  exultant  ferocity 
which  should  mark  every  tone  and  look  on  climbing  the 
first  step  of  the  ladder  by  the  murderer  of  the  king. 
.  .  .  But  if  Mr.  Davenport  did  not  startle  his  audi- 
ence by  bold  strokes  of  power,  he  excited  well-deserved 
admiration  by  the  representation  of  those  scenes  in  which 
dissimulation  and  hypocrisy  are  exhibited.  The  wooing 
of  Lady  Anne  was  an  exquisite  piece  of  acting,  and  his 
exultation  in  the  diabolical  skill  with  which  he  waged 
and  won  his  suit  was  most  keenly  and  faithfully  depicted. 
But  Mr.  Davenport's  real  triumph  was  in  the  scene  while 
Tyrrel  is  in  the  Tower  murdering  the  babes.  In  the  ren- 
dering of  the  beautiful  passage  in  which,  subdued  for  a 
moment  by  the  scene  and  silence  around  and  the  feeling 
of  the  fell  deed  that  was  going  on  inside,  he  softens, 
while  the  thought  of  how  horridly  history  will  hereafter 
picture  him,  and  that  at  that  moment  there  was  not  a  hand 
on  earth  to  drop  a  flower  upon  his  grave,  stole  remorse- 
fully over  his  conscience,  there  was  a  thrilling  pathos  in 
Mr.  Davenport's  air  and  voice  and  look  which  clothed 


€btoar&  Xoomte  SDatotnpott        65 


the  picture  with  a  beautiful  poesy  and  deeply  stirred  the 
audience's  heart. 

On  the  whole,  we  think  Mr.  Davenport's  personation 
of  Richard  III,  though  it  contains  some  blemishes,  is 
still  full  of  many  beauties,  which  justly  entitle  his  very 
noble  effort  to  the  gratitude  of  every  true  lover  of 
Shakspere. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  chief  exceptions  taken 
in  these  criticisms  to  Mr.  Davenport's  acting  are 
almost  all  upon  his  physical  interpretations  of  char- 
acter. The  review  of  his  Othello  starts  off  even 
more  forbiddingly  than  its  predecessors,  and,  like 
most  of  the  criticism  of  fifty  years  ago,  is  written 
in  that  verbose,  florid,  and  uninteresting  style  for- 
tunately not  now  in  vogue. 

When  Mr.  Davenport  appears  we  are  at  once  struck 
with  his  incapability  to  personate  the  character.  Othello 
should  fix  the  interest  of  the  audience  on  the  instant  of 
his  appearance  by  his  proud  bearing  and  impetuous  man- 
ner. Every  movement  should  speak  of  the  fiery  Arab, 
and  a  feeling  of  sympathy  seize  and  hold  the  heart.  But 
Mr.  Davenport  enters  with  a  stealthy  pace,  and  more 
with  the  air  of  some  lugubrious  Eastern  dervish.  .  .  . 
Othello  requires  for  personation  a  noble  mien  and  strong 
physical  power  which  Mr.  Davenport  does  not  possess. 
But  the  ease,  elasticity,  and  gracefulness  of  action  which 
also  belong  to  Othello  Mr.  Davenport  does  possess,  and 
with  their  assistance  he  endeavors  to  put  on  Othello  and 
make  us  forget  that  he  does  not  look  the  man.  Mr.  Dav- 
enport partially  succeeds,  but  only  partially.  .  .  .  We 
have  already  expressed  our  opinion  of  Mr.  Davenport's 
Richard.    We  conceive,  if  possible,  he  would  be  still  better 

9 


66  %  2&iogtapl)p  of 


in  lago,  a  character  which  we  have  always  deemed  the 
character  of  the  play,  and  which  is  especially  suited  to 
his  particular  powers.  But  for  Othello  he  is  not  by  any 
means  so  well  qualified. 

When  before  the  Senate,  the  modesty  of  Othello  de- 
generates in  Mr.  Davenport's  conception  into  humility; 
his  manner  wears  no  spirit,  and  little  bespeaks  the  brave, 
noble  chief  of  the  soldiery  of  Venice.  The  romantic 
story  of  his  life  is  told  with  much  monotony,  and  it  is 
only  when  he  speaks  of  his  love  that  he  enlists  inter- 
est.   .    .    . 

In  the  second  act,  where  the  gates  are  thrown  aside 
and  he  breaks  upon  the  drunken  brawl  of  the  Venetian 
sentinels,  Mr.  Davenport  wears  an  air  of  terrible  ferocity, 
when  it  should  be  simply  one  of  stern  anger  and  author- 
ity of  a  commanding  officer.  But  we  pass  to  a  scene 
which  Mr.  Davenport  renders  with  inimitable  skill  and 
excellence.  It  is  that  in  which  the  devil  lago  commences 
his  hellish  work  of  torture.  You  almost  see  every  cun- 
ning arrow  cleave  the  air,  steal  through  the  dark  skin, 
and  rest  and  rankle  in  the  rich,  luxuriant  Arab  heart. 
You  see  the  shadow  of  the  green-eyed  monster  glide 
across  him,  make  him  first  doubt,  then  shudder,  then 
shake  with  sorrow  and  despair.  All  these  varying  shades 
of  feeling  were  portrayed  by  Mr.  Davenport  with  great 
skill. 


The  engagement  at  the  Broadway  Theatre  ended 
Saturday  evening,  May  26,  1855. 

It  was  in  the  course  of  this  season  that  the  un- 
fortunate incident  arose  which  led  to  the  perma 
nent  estrangement  between  Edwin  Forrest  and  Mr 
Davenport.     While  appearing  in  Cincinnati,  Mr( 
Davenport  met  Judge  Conrad,  the  author  of  "Jack: 


/ 


<£fctoarb  Stoomig  SDatoenport         67 

Cade,"  and  inquired  if  there  were  any  restrictions 
in  the  way  of  its  production.  Judge  Conrad 
promptly  assured  him  that  his  consent  was  all  that 
was  necessary.  To  Mr.  Davenport's  remark  that 
Forrest  claimed  the  sole  right  to  its  production, 
the  author  replied  that  Mr.  Forrest  had  absolutely 
no  exclusive  rights  to  the  play,  and  that  if  Mr. 
Davenport  desired  he  was  at  perfect  liberty  to  pre- 
sent it.  Furthermore,  Judge  Conrad  added  that  he 
would  be  very  much  pleased  to  see  Mr.  Davenport 
act  the  title  character  of  his  play,  whereupon  it 
was  announced  and  successfully  performed.  Im- 
mediately thereafter  came  a  letter  to  Mr.  Daven- 
port from  Forrest,  warning  him  that  he  could  not 
present  the  play  in  the  face  of  Forrest's  exclusive 
rights.  To  this  letter  the  recipient  replied,  stating 
that  he  was  not  aware  of  Mr.  Forrest's  superior 
claim  in  the  matter,  but  that  he  was  willing  to  ac- 
cede to  his  demands  solely  on  the  ground  of  profes- 
sional courtesy  and  friendship.  Here  the  matter 
rested  for  the  time  being,  although  it  was  destined 
to  have  a  permanent  effect  upon  the  relations  be- 
tween the  two  actors.  On  the  9th  of  May,  three 
days  after  the  close  of  Mr.  Davenport's  engage- 
ment at  the  Broadway  Theatre,  a  performance  of 
"Damon  and  Pythias"  was  given  at  the  Academy 
of  Music  in  New  York  for  the  benefit  of  the  elder 
James  W.  Wallack.  Although  Forrest  had  made  it 
a  strict  rule  not  to  appear  at  benefit  performances, 
he  cast  it  aside  this  once  in  favor  of  his  old  friend 


68  %  2&io0tapi)p  of 


and  comrade,  and  agreed  to  act  Damon,  although  if 
he  had  known  at  the  time  that  Mr.  Davenport  was 
to  be  the  Pythias  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  he 
would  have  consented  to  appear.  As  it  was,  he  cer- 
tainly did  not  make  a  bad  matter  any  better  by  re- 
fusing to  speak  directly  to  Mr.  Davenport  even 
when  before  the  audience,  and  by  saying,  "Pythias 
goes  here,"  or  "Pythias  stands  there,"  whenever  the 
action  of  the  play  brought  them  together.  Many 
years  later,  when  Mr.  Davenport  sent  him  word 
that  he  would  be  glad  to  play  Iago  to  his  Othello, 
the  reply  came  that  he  would  not  let  Davenport 
play  Montano  in  his  company !  "These  were  in  his 
violent  moments,"  says  Lawrence  Barrett  in  his 
biography  of  Forrest,  "and  illustrate  the  perverse 
and  soured  elements  of  his  nature." 

In  his  "Life  of  Edwin  Forrest,"  Rev.  William 
R.  Alger  uses  this  episode  as  the  text  for  a  brief 
discussion  of  the  trouble,  and  of  Mr.  Davenport's 
qualities  as  an  actor. 

Forrest  assigned  an  exalted  artistic  rank  to  the  very 
varied  dramatic  impersonations  of  Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport, 
every  one  of  whose  roles  is  marked  by  firm  drawing, 
distinct  light  and  shade,  fine  consistency,  and  finish.  His 
Sir  Giles  Overreach  was  hardly  surpassed  by  Kean  or 
Booth,  and  has  not  been  approached  by  anybody  else. 
His  quick,  alert,  springy  tread  full  of  fire  and  rapidity, 
the  whole  man  in  every  step,  fixed  the  attention  and 
made  every  one  feel  that  there  was  a  terrific  concentra- 
tion of  energy,  an  insane  possession  of  the  nerve  centres, 
portending  something  frightful  soon  to  come.    An  old 


<#&toarb  3toomt£  SDatoettpotk         69 


playgoer,   on   witnessing  this   impersonation,    wrote   the 
following  impromptu: 

"While  viewing  each  remembered  scene,  before  my  gaze 

appears 
Each  famed  depictor  of  Sir  Giles  for  almost  forty  years ; 
The  elder  Kean  and  mighty  Booth  have  each  held  hearts 

in  thrall, 
But  without  overreaching  truth,  you  overreach  them  all." 

It  is  a  satisfaction  to  put  on  record  this  judgment  of 
one  artist  concerning  another  whose  merit  transcends 
even  his  high  reputation,  especially  as  a  coolness  sepa- 
rated the  two  men,  Mr.  Davenport  having,  through  a 
misapprehension  of  the  fact  of  the  publication  of  "Jack 
Cade"  by  Judge  Conrad,  inferred  that  it  had  thus  in 
some  sense  become  the  property  of  the  public,  and  pro- 
duced it  on  the  stage,  while  Forrest  held  it  to  be  his 
own  private  property.  He  had  been  so  annoyed  by  such 
proceedings  on  the  part  of  other  actors  before,  provoking 
him  into  angry  suits  at  law,  that  his  temper  was  sore. 
He  wrote  sharply  to  Mr.  Davenport,  who,  even  if  he  had 
made  a  mistake,  had  done  no  conscious  wrong  and  meant 
no  offense,  and  who  replied  in  a  calmer  tone  and  with 
better  taste.  Here  the  matter  closed,  but  left  an  aliena- 
tion— for  Forrest,  when  irritated,  was  relentlessly  tena- 
cious of  his  point.  Mr.  Davenport  is  a  man  of  gentle 
and  generous  character,  respected  and  beloved  by  all  his 
companions.  He  is  also  in  all  parts  of  his  profession  a 
highly  accomplished  artist  and  critic.  Accordingly,  when 
he  expresses  the  conviction,  as  he  repeatedly  has,  both 
before  and  since  the  decease  of  his  former  friend  and 
great  compeer,  that  Forrest  was  beyond  comparison  the 
most  original  and  the  greatest  actor  America  has  pro- 
duced, his  words  are  weighty,  and  their  spirit  honors  the 
speaker  as  much  as  it  does  the  subject. 


CHAPTER  VI 

A  GLANCE  at  the  American  stage  of  this  pe- 
riod reveals  the  fact  that  it  was,  like  the 
nation  at  large,  in  a  transition  state  of  unrest  and 
upheaval.  The  exciting  events  which  preceded 
immediately  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  were 
forcing  the  country  into  a  turmoil  of  agitation  and 
strife  which  would  not  cease  until  Grant's  final 
victory  in  1865,  ten  years  thence.  Prophecies  of 
bloodshed  were  on  everybody's  lips  in  the  North 
and  in  the  South.  With  their  every-day  life  so 
beset  by  forebodings  of  an  impending  conflict,  it 
is  a  wonder  that  any  attention  at  all  was  paid  to 
the  theatre  and  its  people.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  the 
political  and  social  turmoil,  the  stage  managed  to 
drag  out  a  not  wholly  discouraging  existence,  and 
to  this  period  may  be  traced  the  height  of  the 
reputation  of  many  famous  American  actors. 

Forrest  was  in  his  prime.  Powerful,  proud,  self- 
assertive,  and  antagonistic  to  all  but  his  dearest  per- 
sonal friends,  his  public  and  private  life  had  been 
embittered  by  professional  and  personal  conflicts 
which  resulted  in  placing  him,  at  least  in  his  own 
opinion,  at  odds  with  half  the  world.  The  loyalty 
70 


<£btoarb  Xoomig  SDatoenpott         7* 

of  his  friends — and  no  man  had  more  loyal  friends 
than  Forrest — was  practically  all  that  made  life 
worth  the  living  for  him.  Only  recently  they  had 
fought  for  him  with  intellect  and  brawn,  and  their 
partizanship  had  been  vehemently  and  disgrace- 
fully shown  in  the  Astor  Place  riots,  by  which  a 
distinguished  English  actor  had  been  forcibly  com- 
pelled to  flee  for  his  life  from  New  York  to  Boston, 
and  afterward  to  England.  But  Forrest,  both  be- 
cause of  and  in  spite  of  his  temperament,  loomed 
the  greatest  figure  on  the  American  stage.  Friend 
and  foe  agreed  in  some  measure  to  his  right  to 
that  position. 

The  elder  Booth,  only  recently  dead,  had  left 
three  sons  as  a  heritage  to  his  own  profession. 
The  second  was  just  beginning  a  high  and  honor- 
able career  which  was  to  continue  over  thirty 
years  and  make  him,  although  an  actor  of  entirely 
different  personality  and  method,  the  successor  of 
Forrest  in  the  popular  esteem.  Edwin  Booth, 
however,  received  the  approval  of  intellectual  play- 
goers with  a  unanimity  which  Forrest  had  never 
won.  The  elder  Wallack  was  drawing  to  the  close 
of  a  distinguished  life,  but  the  name  was  to  be 
perpetuated  for  over  a  generation  longer  by  his 
nephew,  James  W.,  Jr.,  and  his  son  Lester. 
Other  members  of  the  Wallack  family  had  also 
graced  the  stage  of  both  Great  Britain  and  Amer- 
ica throughout  the  middle  part  of  the  century — 
notably  Henry,  the  father  of  the  younger  James, 


72  %  2&iosta£l)p  of 


and  the  latter's  sisters  Julia  and  Fanny.  The 
Falstaff  of  James  H.  Hackett  had  years  before  be- 
come the  criterion  by  which  all  Falstaffs  on  the 
American  stage  were  judged,  and  was  at  this  pe- 
riod renowned  from  end  to  end  of  the  continent. 
James  E.  Murdoch  was  in  great  vogue  as  a  trage- 
dian, and  in  the  front  rank  of  comedians  were 
Henry  Placide,John  Brougham,  William  E.  Burton, 
John  Gilbert,  William  Rufus  Blake,  and  William 
Warren.  Although  unknown  but  a  few  years  pre- 
viously, Matilda  Heron  was  shining  conspicuously 
midway  in  the  path  of  her  brilliant  meteoric  career 
as  an  emotional  actress ;  and  Julia  Dean  was  near- 
ing  the  close  and  Laura  Keene  just  tasting  the 
first  fruits  of  a  brief  footlight  existence.  Char- 
lotte Cushman,  eminent  both  as  a  cultivated  woman 
and  a  gifted  actress,  was  at  the  very  top  of  her 
long-continued  fame,  and  had  before  her  nearly 
twenty  years  in  which  to  add  to  the  solidity  and 
honor  of  the  American  stage. 

The  Jefferson  family,  already  celebrated  through 
three  generations  of  actors,  was  to  rise  still  more 
conspicuously  in  the  public  repute  by  the  exqui- 
site comedy  delineations  of  the  player  whose  Asa 
Trenchard,  Dr.  Pangloss,  Mr.  Golightly,  Bob 
Acres,  and  Rip  Van  Winkle  were  to  delight 
many  coming  millions  of  playgoers.  After  having 
served  a  novitiate  beginning  in  his  early  infancy, 
the  third  Joseph  Jefferson,  less  than  thirty  years 
of  age  at  this  period,  was   destined  to  become 


<£btoarb  &oomi£  SDatoenport        73 

the  foremost  comedian  of  his  time.  Edward  A. 
Sothern  had  just  started  upon  a  brilliant  career 
in  which  fate  was  to  hold  him  up  as  the  su- 
perlatively comic  creator  and  representative  of  a 
single  character;  and  a  list  of  the  promising  dra- 
matic youngsters  of  the  time  would  not  be  com- 
plete without  the  names  of  Edwin  Adams,  Frank 
Mayo,  William  J.  Florence,  the  younger  Charles 
R.  Thorne,  John  T.  Raymond,  and  Stuart  Robson. 
To  Dion  Boucicault  must  be  given  a  niche  of  his 
own,  for  that  versatile  Irishman  justified  the  her- 
itage of  his  nationality  by  the  fertility  of  his  genius 
as  a  performer,  creator,  arranger,  and  adapter  of 
plays. 

Such  were  the  people  by  whom  Edward  L.  Dav- 
enport found  himself  surrounded  midway  in  the 
year  1855.  In  the  matter  of  plays  he  had  much 
to  choose  from  in  the  way  of  the  old,  and  very 
little  in  the  way  of  the  new.  The  classic  repertory 
of  comedy,  tragedy,  and  farce  still  survived,  but 
competent  writers  of  modern  plays  were  few  and 
far  between.  Forrest's  prize  offers  had  brought 
forth  scanty  material  for  his  choice,  and  with  few 
exceptions  the  public  preferred  to  see  over  and 
over  again  the  plays  whose  worth  they  knew, 
rather  than  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  merit  of 
strange  and  unfamiliar  dramas.  The  plays  in 
which  Mr.  Davenport  thenceforth  appeared  are 
fairly  typical  of  the  status  of  the  American  thea- 
tre during  the  third  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
10 


74  %  2&iogra$>fjp  of 


century.  Only  the  very  best — Shakspere  and  a 
few  others — have  survived  through  the  transition 
between  the  old  and  new  centuries.  "Black-eyed 
Susan,"  with  its  weirdly  irrational  plot,  heavy 
melodramatic  incidents,  fantastic  characters,  and 
absurd  dialogue,  would  be  laughed  to  scorn  by  the 
present  age  of  theatre-goers — and  justly,  too. 
Even  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts,"  one  of 
the  greatest  Elizabethan  dramas  outside  the  Shak- 
spere cycle,  has  literally  died  of  old  age,  the  im- 
mensity of  its  theme  and  the  power  of  its  character- 
drawing  not  being  sufficient  to  outweigh  the  hor- 
ror of  its  episodes  in  the  minds  of  the  majority  of 
the  people  of  our  over-sensitive  epoch.  As  the 
years  passed  by,  Mr.  Davenport  himself  discov- 
ered that  his  Sir  Giles  Overreach  could  not  hold 
the  public  as  it  had  once,  but  the  fault  lay  beyond 
all  question  with  the  public,  and  not  with  the  actor. 
The  summer  of  1855  was  passed  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Davenport  in  a  tour  through  Albany,  Buffalo, 
and  other  Eastern  cities,  their  repertory  including 
a  sensational  play  entitled  "The  Scalp  Hunters," 
in  addition  to  the  other  dramas  in  which  they  were 
already  familiar.  A  letter  which  appeared  in  one 
of  the  Albany  papers  during  their  engagement  in 
that  city  is  worth  printing  as  a  curiosity : 

Will  you  allow  an  "old  salt"  to  make  a  few  remarks 
through  your  journal  on  the  play  of  "Black-eyed  Susan," 
that  was  performed  at  the  Albany  Theatre  last  week? 
After  a  good  deal  of  persuasion  from  my  wife,  I  went 
to  see  Mr.  Davenport    (with  some  other  friends),  ex- 


MR.  DAVENPORT  AS  SIR  GILES. 


<£btoarti  Hoomig  SDabenpott         75 


pecting,  of  course,  to  see  it  as  I  had  seen  it  acted  before. 
But,  sir,  I  was  disappointed,  and  I  have  been  round  some 
in  different  parts  of  the  world  for  the  last  twenty-five 
years,  and  I  must  say  I  never  had  the  salt-water  knocked 
out  of  my  toplights  by  anything  equal  to  that  perform- 
ance. To  criticize  it  would  be  out  of  the  question,  for  it 
was  perfect;  and  when  Mr.  Davenport  gave  the  chorus 
in  the  "Yankee  Ship  and  Yankee  Crew,"  I  thought  I  was 
at  home  again  on  salt  water,  and  looked  at  him  to  see 
if  he  was  not  genuine,  and  everybody  afloat,  for  without 
any  exception  he  is  the  most  perfect  sailor  I  have  seen 
in  years,  and  the  best  I  ever  saw  upon  the  stage.  No 
over-acting  and  nothing  wanting.  He  represents  the 
sailor  as  he  used  to  be  in  old  times,  for  they  as  a  class 
are  undergoing  a  change,  and  the  old  school  are  passing 
away.  If  the  play  is  performed  again,  I  would  advise  all 
to  go  and  see  it,  whether  they  approve  of  such  things 
or  not,  for  there  is  nothing  in  the  performance  but  what 
is  to  the  life  and  perfectly  in  its  place. 

On  Monday,  September  17,  the  regular  sea- 
son began  at  the  Broadway  Theatre  in  New  York, 
with  Mr.  Davenport  as  the  star.  An  extract  from 
the  current  press  will  give  some  idea  of  the  people 
by  whom  he  was  surrounded  while  at  that  house : 

During  the  summer  vacation  the  enterprising  pro- 
prietors— the  Marshalls — were  not  inattentive  to  the  re- 
quirements and  tastes  of  the  theatre-going  public,  and  so 
from  England  and  from  home  actors  of  repute  and  popu- 
larity were  obtained  and  enlisted  as  regular  members  of 
the  corps  dramatique  at  this  theatre.  Among  the  former 
are  Miss  Emma  Harding,  late  of  the  Haymarket  Thea- 
tre, London,  and  Miss  Josephine  Manners,  a  vocalist 
from  the  Theatre  Royal,  Liverpool.  Among  the  latter 
are  that  jolly  comedian  and  capital  stage  manager,  late 
of  Wallack's  and  Burton's,  and  who  had  occupied  the 


76  %  2ftosrai%  of 


position  of  stage  manager  at  the  Broadway  some  four 
years  ago,  a  post  which  he  again  resumes ;  Mr.  Charles 
Fisher,  an  excellent  and  judicious  English  actor  who,  we 
believe,  made  his  New  York  debut  at  Burton's;  Mr. 
Chapman,  an  old  favorite,  formerly  of  the  Park  Theatre ; 
Mr.  Fenno,  who  had  been  a  few  years  ago  a  valuable 
stock  actor  at  the  Broadway,  and  who  has  since  been 
playing  first  characters  in  Philadelphia,  Washington,  and 
the  rural  districts  generally;  Mr.  S.  Eytinge,  from  the 
Walnut  Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia;  Mrs.  W.  R.  Blake, 
and  Mrs.  Buckland.  These,  we  believe,  comprise  all  the 
additions  to  the  dramatic  company  at  the  Broadway,  but 
they  are  both  numerous  and  valuable.  Among  the  old 
favorites  retained  are  Madame  Ponisi,  Mrs.  Warren, 
and  Mrs.  Nagle.  Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport,  one  of  the  most 
talented,  judicious,  and  popular  of  our  American  actors, 
commenced  a  brief  engagement  last  evening.  The  recep- 
tion given  to  him,  as  well  as  to  Madame  Ponisi  and  Mr. 
Fisher,  was  extremely  flattering. 

The  opening  play  of  the  season  was  Shakspere's 
"Richard  III,"  with  Mr.  Davenport  in  the  title 
character  and  Charles  Fisher  as  Richmond.  The 
engagement  lasted  three  weeks,  its  most  notable 
event  being  the  production,  on  September  26,  of 
George  H.  Boker's  "Francesca  da  Rimini,"  with 
Mr.  Davenport  as  Lanciotto,  Charles  Fisher  as 
Beppo,  David  Whiting  as  Malatesta,  J.  W.  Laner- 
gan  as  Paolo,  Madame  Ponisi  as  Francesca,  and 
Miss  Manners  as  Ritta. 

After  a  tour  which  included  Philadelphia,  Balti- 
more, and  Chicago,  Boston  was  reached,  and  on 
Wednesday  evening  Mr.  Davenport  played  Pros- 
pero  in  "The  Tempest,"  probably  for  the  first  time. 


<g&toart)  Hoomig  SDatoenpott         n 

He  superseded  Thomas  Barry  for  only  a  few  per- 
formances, that  actor  appearing  in  the  part  during 
the  remainder  of  the  run. 

Doubtless  at  no  period  of  his  career  was  Mr. 
Davenport  more  popular  in  his  native  city  than 
at  the  present  moment.  In  a  letter  to  the  "Spirit 
of  the  Times,"  James  Oakes,  one  of  Edwin  For- 
rest's most  intimate  friends,  said :  "If  there  ever 
was  an  actor  who  deserved  to  be  fostered  and  en- 
couraged by  his  townsmen,  it  is  Edward  L.  Dav- 
enport, as  by  his  own  industry  he  has,  unaided, 
climbed  to  his  present  position  in  the  profession." 
After  leaving  Boston,  he  played  in  the  South  until 
early  in  May,  and  then  returned  to  his  native  city 
in  order  to  begin  an  engagement  at  the  National 
Theatre,  continuing  there  several  weeks  in  his  cus- 
tomary repertory.  A  series  of  tours  followed  dur- 
ing the  two  ensuing  seasons. 

On  September  15,  1856,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daven- 
port began  an  engagement  in  New  York  at  Bur- 
ton's new  theatre  in  Broadway,  near  Bond  Street, 
which  continued  two  months.  They  opened  as  the 
Duke  Aranza  and  Juliana  in  "The  Honeymoon"; 
on  the  25th  of  September  "The  Witch  Wife"  was 
given,  with  the  Davenports  as  Matthew  Hopkins 
and  Cecil  Howard,  and  Burton  as  Anthony  Gabo- 
on the  1st  of  October  they  played  Walter  and  Eli- 
nor in  "The  Poor  Scholar,"  with  Burton  as  James 
Blot.  They  appeared  as  Hamlet  and  Ophelia, 
Charles  Surface  and  Lady  Teazle;  and  on  the  17th 
of   November,   Boucicault's   "Genevieve;   or,   the 


78  %  2&osrapl)p  of 


Reign  of  Terror"  was  given,  with  Davenport  as 
Maurice  Landry,  Burton  as  Lorin,  Charles  Fisher 
as  Dixmer,  Dan  Setchell  as  Simon,  and  Mrs.  Dav- 
enport as  Genevieve. 

In  the  revival  of  "Hamlet,"  the  Polonius  was 
Mark  Smith,  Burton  and  Placide  were  the  Grave- 
diggers,  Charles  Fisher  was  the  Ghost,  and  Mrs. 
Davenport  the  Ophelia  to  her  husband's  Dane — "a 
combination  of  strength  in  the  male  parts  almost 
unequaled,"  remarks  Laurence  Hutton  in  "A  Cen- 
tury of  Hamlet." 

Leaving  Burton's  Theatre,  they  began  an  en- 
gagement in  "Charity's  Love"  at  the  Bowery  Thea- 
tre, on  December  1st,  which  lasted  until  the  24th 
of  January,  1857.  This  was  the  period  of  Charles 
Kean's  popular  Shaksperian  revivals  at  the  Prin- 
cess's Theatre  in  London,  and  John  Brougham, 
emulous  of  his  friend  across  the  water,  attempted  a 
pretentious  revival  of  "King  John"  at  the  Bowery 
Theatre,  then  under  his  management.  On  the  29th 
of  December  it  was  brought  out,  with  the  follow- 
ing cast : 

King  John E.  L.  Davenport. 

Faulconbridge William  Wheatley. 

Hubert J.  B.  Howe. 

King  Philip Con.  Clarke. 

Dauphin Mr.  Dunn. 

Pandulph David  Whiting. 

Prince  Arthur Kate  Reignolds. 

Constance Mrs.  E.  L.  Davenport. 


<£btoarb  3loomi$  SDabcnport         79 

And  Brougham  as  leader  of  the  supernumeraries! 
Of  this  production  Mrs.  Erving  Winslow  (Kate 
Reignolds)  thus  writes  in  her  "Yesterdays  with 
Actors": 

It  may  seem  a  singular  role  for  such  a  man  to  under- 
take, but  he  meant  in  every  detail  to  insure  success,  and 
it  is  needless  to  say,  while  he  personated  the  head  of  one 
army,  the  other  was  well  officered,  and  more  well-drilled, 
earnest  troops  were  never  seen  in  a  body  of  regular 
soldiers.  There  never  was  a  stage  where  the  possibilities 
were  greater,  being  so  deep  as  to  permit  the  effect  of  the 
army  marching  up  from  a  valley  at  the  back,  and  the 
height  of  the  theatre  none  realized  more  fully  than  myself 
when,  as  Arthur,  I  stood  upon  the  walls  and  looked  down 
into  the  sickening  space  before  the  leap  he  is  supposed 
to  make.  I  have  often  jumped  a  distance  of  a  few  feet, 
but  even  then  there  is  a  jar,  as  I  found  when  I  did  it 
night  after  night,  although  there  is  always  a  mattress 
laid  to  "break  the  fall."  But  a  leap  such  as  the  one  I 
speak  of  in  "King  John"  could  not  be  taken  unless  the 
actor  were  to  fulfil  Shakspere's  intention  of  death  to  the 
one  taking  it.  .  .  .  This  production  of  one  of  Shak- 
spere's greatest  plays,  magnificently  acted,  failed  so  sig- 
nally as  to  leave  the  manager  with  a  nightly  deficit,  neces- 
sitating the  withdrawal  of  "King  John"  after  only  two 
weeks. 

After  leaving  the  Bowery  Theatre,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Davenport  played  a  brief  engagement  at  the  Cham- 
bers Street  Theatre,  and  on  April  20  they  began  a 
short  season  at  the  Broadway  Theatre  in  a  new  play 
by  George  H.  Miles,  entitled  "De  Soto ;  or,  The  Hero 
of  the  Mississippi."     The  cast  included  Mr.  Dav- 


8o  31 2&iogra#)p  of 


enport  in  the  title  role,  Sol  Eytinge  as  D'Alvardo, 
A.  H.  Davenport  as  Moscaso,  and  Mrs.  Davenport 
as  Ulah.  As  the  public  refused  to  patronize  this 
play,  it  was  speedily  withdrawn,  and  was  followed 
by  "Julius  Caesar,"  "Richard  III,"  and  "The 
School  for  Scandal."  In  "Julius  Caesar"  Mr.  Dav- 
enport appeared  as  Brutus,  the  younger  J.  W.  Wal- 
lack  as  Cassius,  and  Mrs.  Davenport  as  Portia. 
The  season  at  this  house  ended  on  the  30th  of 
May.  At  one  time  during  the  following  season 
of  1857-58  Mr.  Davenport  was  playing  Hamlet  at 
the  Winter  Garden,  while  at  Wallaces  the  elder 
J.  W.  Wallack  was  acting  the  same  character,  both 
actors  having  rivals  as  the  Dane  at  two  theatres  on 
the  East  Side.  At  Wallack's  Theatre,  on  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1858,  a  notable  performance  of  "Othello" 
was  given  for  the  benefit  of  Henry  C.  Jarrett.  Mr. 
Davenport  was  the  Othello,  Edwin  Booth  the  Iago, 
A.  H.  Davenport  the  Cassio,  Mrs.  John  Hoey  the 
Desdemona,  and  Mrs.  J.  H.  Allen  the  Emilia. 
On  March  1  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davenport  began  an 
engagement  at  Burton's  Theatre  in  "Hamlet,"  and 
in  the  course  of  their  season  there  they  took  part 
in  a  number  of  new  productions.  On  the  4th  of 
March  a  melodrama  entitled  "A  Struggle  for 
Gold"  was  brought  out,  with  the  Davenports  as 
Richard  Wilder  and  Marian;  and  on  the  16th  of 
the  same  month  "some  very  good  acting  was 
wasted  on  an  absurd  piece"  x  called  "The  Mor- 
1  Ireland's  "Records  of  the  New  York  Stage,"  vol.  ii. 


mons.',  The  cast  included  Mr.  Davenport  as 
Markham,  Charles  Fisher  as  Brigham  Young, 
Mark  Smith  as  Perley  Pratt,  W.  E.  Burton  as 
Noggs,  Dan  Setchell  as  Jake,  Mrs.  Davenport  as 
Lucy,  and  Ada  Clifton  as  Mary.  Their  season 
ended  at  this  house  on  April  3,  and,  going  di- 
rectly to  the  Boston  Theatre,  Mr.  Davenport 
played  there  in  opposite  parts  to  Joseph  Proc- 
tor in  "Julius  Caesar,"  "Damon  and  Pythias/' 
"Othello,"  and  other  classic  plays.  On  the  last  day 
of  the  following  May,  at  the  same  house,  he  began 
an  engagement  in  leading  roles  with  Charlotte 
Cushman,  who  had  been  residing  in  Europe  and 
on  this  occasion  made  her  first  public  appearance 
in  her  native  city  for  many  years.  The  opening 
play  was  Shakspere's  "King  Henry  VIII,"  and  its 
cast  a  notable  one : 

King  Henry  VIII John  Gilbert. 

Cardinal  Wolsey E.  L.  Davenport. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  .    .    .  ' .    .  George  C.  Boniface. 

Lord  Sands Dan  Setchell. 

Cromwell I*  R.  Shewell. 

Queen  Katherine Charlotte  Cushman. 

Anne  Boleyn Mary  Devlin. 

Patience Mrs.  John  Gilbert. 

"Macbeth,"  "Romeo  and  Juliet,"  "Guy  Manner- 

ing,"  "The  Stranger,"  "The  Honeymoon,"  "The 

Actress  of  Padua,"  and  "She  Stoops  to  Conquer" 

followed  during  the  engagement,  which  lasted  a 

11 


82 


<£btoarb  Hoomte  SDatoenport 


fortnight,  and  when  Miss  Cushman  began  her 
New  York  engagement  at  Niblo's  Garden  on  the 
2 1  st  of  June  Mr.  Davenport  continued  in  her  sup- 
port. The  season  opened,  as  in  Boston,  with 
"King  Henry  VIII,"  and  on  the  second  night  Miss 
Cushman  played  Romeo  to  the  Juliet  of  Miss  Mary 
Devlin  and  the  Mercutio  of  Mr.  Davenport.  Miss 
Devlin,  who  later  became  the  wife  of  Edwin  Booth 
and  died  after  a  few  brief  years  of  wedded  happi- 
ness, had  only  recently  made  her  debut  as  a  pro- 
fessional actress.  The  notable  performance  of  the 
brief  season  there  was  that  of  "The  School  for 
Scandal,"  with  Miss  Cushman  as  Lady  Teazle, 
Mr.  Davenport  as  Charles  Surface,  Henry  Placide 
as  Sir  Peter  Teazle,  John  Gilbert  as  Sir  Oliver 
Surface,  John  Brougham  as  Sir  Benjamin  Back- 
bite, William  R.  Blake  as  Crab  tree,  and  Miss  Mary 
Devlin  as  Maria.  On  the  final  night  of  the  en- 
gagement Mr.  Davenport  played  Macbeth  to  Miss 
Cushman's  Lady  Macbeth.  At  the  close  of  the  per- 
formance Miss  Cushman  was  led  before  the  cur- 
tain by  Mr.  Davenport  and  announced  her  inten- 
tion to  leave  the  country  for  a  two  years'  rest  in 
Europe,  and  never  to  return  to  the  stage  unless 
adverse  fortune  compelled.  Luckily  for  the  Ameri- 
can stage,  fortune  did  not  favor  Miss  Cushman 
while  she  was  in  Europe,  and  the  theatre-goers  of 
her  native  country  saw  her  in  her  famous  char- 
acters many  times  after  her  return. 


CHAPTER  VII 

FOR  a  time  at  least  the  wanderings  of  the  Dav- 
enports were  over.  Henceforth  they  were  to 
spend  several  years  in  Boston.  In  the  summer  of 
1858  Mr.  Davenport  accepted  an  offer  to  become 
leading  man  of  the  stock  company  at  the  Boston 
Theatre,  and  on  September  13  he  began,  with  his 
wife,  an  entire  season  there,  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Thomas  Barry. 

The  company  included  Edwin  Adams,  George 
Holland,  Dan  Setchell,  John  H.  Selwyn,  Mary 
Devlin,  Charlotte  Crampton,  and  Josephine  Orton, 
and  a  series  of  successful  dramatic  performances 
filled  the  time  until  December  9.  On  that  date 
the  drama  gave  way  to  opera,  which  lasted  until 
the  6th  of  January.  On  February  23  Mr.  Barry 
took  his  company,  headed  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daven- 
port, to  the  Howard  Athenaeum,  opening  there  in 
"Our  American  Cousin,"  and  following  that  play 
until  the  5th  of  April  with  a  series  of  popular  at- 
tractions. The  return  of  the  company  to  the  Bos- 
ton Theatre  was  signalized  by  a  production  of 
"The  Corsican  Brothers,"  in  which  Mr.  Daven- 
port played  the  dual  title  role,  and  by  a  spectacular 
S3 


84  311  25ioetapl)p  of 


entertainment   known   as    "The   Cataract   of   the 
Ganges." 

Many  years  later  his  daughter  Fanny  was  play- 
ing an  engagement  at  the  same  house,  and  in  con- 
versation at  the  rehearsal  hour  chatted  entertain- 
ingly of  her  childhood  days,  and  of  this  very 
production. 

I  always  feel  particularly  at  home  in  Mr.  Tompkins's 
theatre,  for  upon  this  stage  my  father  and  mother  passed 
many  seasons  in  their  theatrical  career.  And  I  Ve 
played  here  many  times,  too,  as  a  tot,  child,  and  woman. 
Father  first  played  a  starring  engagement  here  in  the  fif- 
ties, and  I  remember  how  big  this  stage  looked  to  me  in 
comparison  with  that  of  the  Howard  Athenaeum  and 
Boston  Museum,  where  I  had  been  as  a  child  in  arms — 
and  I  was  a  pretty  big  child  too,  I  remember.  Right 
here,  where  you  see  this  big  trap-door,  was  the  opening 
used  years  ago  in  "The  Cataract  of  the  Ganges"  for  the 
entrance  of  Mokarah  and  Zerlina  in  a  chariot  drawn  by 
eight  horses,  four  abreast.  A  flight  of  steps  ran  up  from 
below,  and  up  this  incline  the  steeds  and  their  burden 
were  rushed  on  the  stage. 

Whenever  I  saw  that  chariot  safely  in  sight  I  always 
felt  happy.  Why?  Oh,  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  father 
and  mother  played  those  two  passengers  at  one  of  the 
revivals,  and  mother  used  to  dread  that  part  of  the  per- 
formance, for  it  was  extremely  dangerous.  I  remember 
she  once  told  us  that  the  heads  of  the  first  row  of  horses 
were  about  at  the  middle  of  the  staircase  and  facing  to- 
wards the  stage  left.  The  space  was  very  small,  and 
there  was  no  chance  to  start  straight  up  the  steps.  When 
the  word  was  given  to  go,  the  men  stationed  at  the  sides 
whipped  up  the  nags,  the  driver  yanked  them  around  to 
the  right,  the  two  occupants  held  on  tight,  bumpy-ty- 


<£btoar&  Jioomig  SDatoenport        8s 


bump  went  the  wheels,  jumpy-ty-jump  went  the  horses, 
and  neither  she  nor  father  breathed  until  they  were  fac- 
ing the  audience,  with  the  chariot  at  a  standstill. 

If  father  had  n't  been  in  the  vehicle,  mother  would  n't 
have  taken  that  ride  for  anything.  A  funny  episode  in 
the  same  piece  was  the  fight,  in  front  of  the  cataract  of 
real  water,  between  Mokarah  and  an  English  officer, 
which  we  always  called  the  "damp  duel,"  for  the  water 
was  generally  inclined  to  run  over  onto  the  stage;  and 
as  father  was  the  one  slain  in  the  battle,  his  usual  re- 
mark— unheard  by  the  audience,  of  course — was,  "Now 
for  another  bath  at  Tompkins's  expense."  Mother  tried 
to  get  father  to  play  this  scene  in  rubber  boots,  but  he 
would  n't. 

At  the  close  of  the  season  at  the  Boston  Theatre, 
Mr.  Davenport  went  to  New  York  and  appeared  at 
Niblo's  Garden  as  Damon,  Brutus,  and  other  per- 
sonages of  the  classic  drama. 

On  the  29th  of  August,  1859,  Mr.  Davenport 
became  lessee  and  sole  manager  of  the  Howard 
Athenaeum.  The  house  was  badly  in  need  of  reno- 
vation and  alteration,  and  wanted  many  appliances 
necessary  to  the  perfect  running  of  a  well-ordered 
theatre.  The  new  manager  at  once  proceeded 
with  the  task  of  putting  the  theatre  in  thorough 
order.  It  was  painted,  frescoed,  carpeted,  and 
seated  anew,  the  scene-dock  was  restocked,  and  a 
new  and  modern  stage  equipment  supplied.  When 
the  house  was  reopened  to  the  public,  Mr.  Daven- 
port had  expended  over  ten  thousand  dollars  upon 
it.     But  the  result  proved  that  the  ambitious  man- 


86  %  2&iogra#)p  of 


ager  was  mistaken  in  his  confidence  in  the  public. 
The  theatre  was  opened  auspiciously  under  Mr. 
Davenport's  personal  business  direction,  and  with 
the  manager  himself  at  the  head  of  his  stock  com- 
pany. The  stars  who  appeared  during  the  first 
season  were  Mrs.  Farren,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  J. 
Florence,  Matilda  Heron,  Maggie  Mitchell,  Mrs. 
Barrow,  Julia  Dean  Hayne,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James 
W.  Wallack,  Jr.,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barney  Williams, 
Edwin  Adams,  John  Brougham,  and  Edwin  Booth. 
During  John  Brougham's  engagement  the  bur- 
lesque of  "Pocahontas"  was  a  feature  of  the  pro- 
grammes, and  created  a  great  sensation,  Brougham 
appearing  as  Powhatan  and  Davenport  as  Captain 
John  Smith.  The  season  showed  to  the  utmost 
Mr.  Davenport's  versatility  in  tragedy,  comedy, 
farce,  and  burlesque.  On  one  occasion  a  leading 
actor  was  cast  for  a  prominent  part  in  a  burlesque 
wherein  he  had  to  sing  a  topical  song,  but,  as  ac- 
tors are  wont  to  do  once  in  a  while,  he  failed  to 
arrive  on  time.  Davenport  made  no  fuss  about 
the  matter,  but  calmly  donned  the  missing  actor's 
costume  and  went  through  the  part,  topical  song 
and  all,  without  any  difficulty.  During  Edwin 
Booth's  engagement  he  played  Othello  to  his  Iago, 
and  Iago  to  his  Othello;  and  the  exigencies  of  the 
cast  demanding  on  a  certain  evening  his  assump- 
tion of  the  Ghost,  he  went  through  that  part  with 
all  the  consummate  power  of  which  he  was  a  mas- 
ter.   When  "Our  American  Cousin"  was  performed 


<£btoarb  ftoomi£  SDatomport         87 

he  would  play  Dundreary  on  one  evening  to  the 
Asa  Trenchard  of  Chanfrau,  and  on  the  following 
evening  the  two  actors  would  exchange  characters. 
The  season  closed  July  9,  i860,  with  a  testimonial 
to  Mr.  Davenport. 

The  second  season  of  his  management  of  the 
Howard  Athenaeum  began  August  13,  i860,  and 
the  third  and  final  season  started  September  12, 
1 86 1,  and  closed  definitely  in  November.  Finan- 
cially his  enterprise  had  been  a  failure.  It  had 
been  Mr.  Davenport's  hope  that  the  public  would 
support  the  drama  provided  for  them  in  a  theatre 
conducted  on  a  liberal  and  artistic  scale,  and  that 
the  Howard  Athenaeum  would  become  the  lead- 
ing play-house  in  Boston.  To  this  end  he  ex- 
pended money  lavishly  and  engaged  a  company 
comprising  such  well-known  players  as  John  Mc- 
Cullough,  Lawrence  Barrett,  Charles  Barron, 
Frank  E.  Aiken,  William  J.  LeMoyne,  Frank  Har- 
denbergh,  Annie  Clarke,  and  Josephine  Orton. 
But  his  policy  failed  of  success,  and  within  a  cou- 
ple of  months  after  the  beginning  of  his  third 
season  he  disposed  of  his  lease  to  a  firm  of  circus 
managers. 

The  Davenport- Wallack  combination  then  came 
into  being.  With  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  W.  Wal-  J 
lack,  Jr.,  Mr.  Davenport  joined  his  forces,  opening 
in  New  York  at  the  Winter  Garden,  and  playing 
later  in  Philadelphia  and  Boston.  Their  opening 
bill  in  New  York,  on  the  7th  of  January,  1862,  was 


88  %  2&iogtapl)p  of 


"The  School  for  Scandal,"  with  Davenport  as 
Backbite,  Wallack  as  Joseph  Surface,  Mark  Smith 
as  Sir  Peter  Teazle,  Wheatley  as  Charles  Surface, 
and  Thomas  Placide  as  Crabtree.  During  this  en- 
gagement Mr.  Davenport  played  Hamlet,  Othello, 
and  Brutus.  Early  in  1862  the  organization  made 
a  Western  tour,  the  repertory  including,  in  addition 
to  the  Shaksperian  list,  such  plays  as  "The  Iron 
Mask,"  "Still  Waters  Run  Deep,"  "How  She 
Loves  Him,"  "King  of  the  Commons,"  "The  Ri- 
vals," and  "The  School  for  Scandal."  The  tour 
>  was  everywhere  successful,  and  the  company  re- 
ceived warm  praise  from  press  and  public.  On 
the  return  East,  they  reappeared  at  Niblo's  Garden 
in  New  York,  the  company  then  comprising  Wil- 
liam Wheatley,  Thomas  Placide,  Mrs.  Gladstane, 
and  Mrs.  Skerrett.  From  New  York  they  went 
to  Boston,  and  it  was  while  playing  there  that  Mr. 
Wallack  withdrew  from  the  company  and  John  E. 
Owens  succeeded  Thomas  Placide  as  leading  co- 
median. 

The  first  half  of  the  season  of  1862-63  was 
spent  by  Mr.  Davenport  in  Philadelphia  at  the 
Walnut  Street  Theatre,  following  that  engage- 
ment with  a  reading  tour  through  the  New  Eng- 
land States,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Davenport.  As 
a  reader  Mr.  Davenport  was  distinctly  successful. 
His  peculiar  and  perfect  grace,  the  commanding 
dignity  of  his  presence,  his  rich,  mellow  voice,  the 
natural  and  varied  expression  of  his  countenance, 


<£btoart>  3toomi£  SDatoenport         89 

all  combined  to  compel  public  admiration  of  his 
genius  as  a  reader.  Nor  was  Mrs.  Davenport  less 
a  favorite  than  her  husband. 

In  the  spring  of  1863  the  Davenport- Wal lack 
combination  was  reorganized,  and  their  tours  con- 
tinued through  the  following  season  of  1863-64. 
During  the  summer  of  1864  the  traveling  career  of 
the  combination  was  interrupted  by  the  engage- 
ment of  both  the  Davenports  and  the  Wallacks  as 
leading  members  of  H.  C.  Jarrett's  stock  company 
at  the  Boston  Theatre.  The  opening  came  on  Au- 
gust 23,  the  bill  comprising  "The  Lady  of  the  Lake" 
and  "The  Rough  Diamond."  In  the  winter  a 
dramatic  version  of  "Enoch  Arden"  was  produced, 
with  Davenport  as  Philip  Ray,  Wallack  in  the  title 
role,  and  Rose  Ey tinge  as  Annie  Lee;  and  in  the 
spring  "Oliver  Twist"  was  given,  with  Davenport 
as  Bill  Sikes,  Wallack  as  Fagin,  and  Lucille  West- 
ern as  Nancy  Sikes.  Mr.  Davenport  felt  the  in- 
tense brutality  of  Bill  Sikes  so  keenly  that  it  was 
always  something  like  torture  for  him  to  act  the 
character,  but  to  the  public  his  impersonation  was 
nevertheless  matchless.  "He  could  play  Bill  Sikes" 
it  was  said,  "in  a  way  to  make  Dickens  shiver,  and 
then  play  Fagin  better  than  J.  W.  Wallack,  which 
is  saying  a  great  deal."  In  the  spring  of  1865  the 
new  Tremont  Theatre  in  Boston,  a  small  play- 
house on  the  site  of  the  present  Studio  Building, 
was  for  a  brief  period  under  the  joint  management 
of  Davenport  and  Wallack,  both  managers  holding 
12 


9°  21  2&iograpI)p  of 


the  principal  roles  in  all  their  productions.  Their 
last  performance  there  was  given  on  the  afternoon 
of  May  13,  the  play  being  "Still  Waters  Run 
Deep." 

In  the  following  season  of  1865-66  Mr.  Daven- 
port and  Mr.  Wallack  played  occasional  engage- 
ments together,  the  season  closing  in  June  at  the 
Boston  Theatre.  "Oliver  Twist"  was  still  in  their 
repertory,  and  "East  Lynne"  was  also  played,  with 
Lucille  Western  in  the  dual  role  of  Lady  Isabel 
Vane  and  Madame  Vine,  and  Mr.  Davenport  as 
Sir  Francis  Levison.  The  following  month  Mr. 
Davenport  organized  a  company  to  play  in  the 
leading  theatres  throughout  New  England,  but 
its  career  was  brief  on  account  of  his  having  ac- 
cepted an  engagement  to  act  as  leading  man  and 
stage  director  of  the  stock  company  at  the  Con- 
tinental Theatre  in  Boston.  On  August  13  "St. 
Marc"  was  given,  followed  by  the  familiar  plays 
in  Mr.  Davenport's  repertory.  The  company  in- 
cluded W.H.  Smith,  McKee  Rankin,  Kitty  Blanch- 
ard,  Louisa  Myers,  and  Fanny  Davenport,  then  at 
the  beginning  of  her  successful  stage  career.  In 
December  Mr.  Davenport  withdrew  from  the  com- 
pany and  began  a  starring  tour  at  the  Broadway 
Theatre,  New  York,  in  "Damon  and  Pythias," 
*  "St.  Marc,"  "Hamlet,"  "Black-eyed  Susan," 
"Wild  Oats,"  and  other  familiar  plays.  In  Feb- 
ruary he  appeared  at  the  Howard  Athenaeum  in  a 
new  and  unsatisfactory  piece  called  "Christopher 


<£btoarb  Xoomte  2Datontport         91 

Columbus,"  and  late  in  the  same  month  he  began 
a  Western  tour  which  started  in  Philadelphia  and 
continued  until  the  middle  of  May,  when  he  came 
East  to  revive  the  Davenport- Wallack  combina- 
tion for  a  brief  season.  Midway  in  the  following 
season,  after  a  tour  through  some  of  the  Western 
cities,  he  again  joined  Mr.  Wallack,  the  company 
disbanding  after  a  tour  of  a  month  or  so  in  "Oliver 
Twist"  and  other  plays. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1868  Mr.  Davenport 
started  with  his  wife  for  California.  In  those 
days  the  popular  mode  of  travel  to  the  Pacific 
coast  was  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and 
this  was  the  route  they  chose.  Always  a  long  and 
tedious  journey  at  best,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davenport 
had  a  particularly  uncomfortable  experience.  The 
steamship  by  which  they  sailed  from  New  York 
had  eleven  hundred  passengers,  and  that  from 
Panama  to  San  Francisco  was  registered  to  carry 
only  nine  hundred  souls.  But,  in  spite  of  the  in- 
conveniences of  the  trip,  they  finally  reached  the 
Golden  Gate  but  little  the  worse  for  it.  They  were 
under  engagement  to  appear  at  the  Metropolitan 
Theatre  at  the  close  of  Mrs.  D.  P.  Bowers's  sea- 
son, and  on  the  opening  night  Mr.  Davenport  of- 
fered his  familiar  interpretation  of  Hamlet — fa- 
miliar at  least  to  Eastern  playgoers.  To  those  of 
the  West  it  was  entirely  unknown,  and  appears 
not  to  have  been  appreciated  by  the  San  Francisco 
public  at  its  full  value.     "Hamlet"  was  succeeded 


92  %  2&iograi%  of 


by  "Richelieu,"  "Damon  and  Pythias,"  "Wild 
Oats,"  "St.  Marc,"  and  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old 
Debts,"  and  of  these  plays  the  last  mentioned  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  most  warmly  received. 
The  general  tone  of  criticism,  however,  seems  to 
have  been  adverse  to  Mr.  Davenport,  chiefly  be- 
cause he  lacked  the  physical  power  and  animal 
magnetism  which  the  restless  Californians  were 
accustomed  to  consider  the  sole  attributes  of  ef- 
fective acting.  The  season  was  announced  to  close 
early  in  July,  and  the  Davenports  had  made  all  ar- 
rangements to  leave  San  Francisco  on  the  14th  of 
that  month.  Their  departure,  however,  was  de- 
layed by  the  receipt  of  the  following  letter : 

Saturday,  July  11,  1868,  8  a.m.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  L. 
Davenport:  Several  of  your  friends  and  admirers  have 
just  learned,  with  great  surprise  and  still  greater  regret, 
that  it  is  your  intention  to  leave  San  Francisco  on  the 
steamer  of  the  14th  inst.  Can  you  not  be  persuaded  to 
reconsider  the  determination  and  defer  your  departure 
for  a  while,  in  order  to  give  us  an  opportunity  to  express 
our  regard  and  estimation  of  you,  both  in  your  social  and 
professional  position,  in  the  shape  of  a  "Farewell  Tes- 
timonial"? If  we  are  so  fortunate  as  to  receive  a  favor- 
able reply,  and  your  arrangements  will  permit,  we  will 
at  once  proceed  to  take  such  measures  as  are  necessary 
for  the  purpose,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  believe 
that,  seconded  by  an  enlightened  public,  the  result  must 
prove  as  favorable  and  advantageous  to  you  as  it  will 
surely  be  pleasurable  to  us.    Your  early  reply  will  oblige. 

The  request  was  complied  with,  and  the  testi- 
monial performance  was  given  on  the  20th  of  July. 


MR.  DAVENPORT  AS  RICHELIEU. 


*      l      t,*      * 


1  .     I 


1     .     '     .     I 


€btoarb  Stoonug  SDatompott         93 

Prior  to  leaving  for  the  East,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dav- 
enport gave,  in  response  to  invitation,  a  series  of 
"Evenings  with  the  Poets,"  consisting  of  dramatic 
and  humorous  readings,  which  were  very  success- 
ful. One  of  their  programmes  is  interesting  from 
the  standpoint  of  versatility,  if  from  none  other: 

Part  I 

1.  The  Execution.     (A  Tale  of  Lon- 

don Life) Ingoldsby  Legends. 

Mr.  Davenport 

2.  The  Young  Grayhead Blackwood. 

Mrs.  Davenport 

3.  The  Wonderful  One  Hoss  Shay  .    O.  W.  Holmes. 

Mr.  Davenport 

4.  A  Caudle  Lecture Jerrold. 

Mrs.  Davenport 

5.  The  River — "Cold,  black,  deep"    .    Fonblanque. 

Mr.  Davenport 

6.  Murder  Scene  from  Macbeth  .    . 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davenport 

Part  II 

1.  Mona's  Waters;  or,  The  Widow's 

Son Anon. 

Mrs.  Davenport 

2.  The  Good  Time  Past Anon. 

Mr.  Davenport 


94  31  9&iogtapftp  of 


3.  Widow  Bedott's  Epistle  to  Elder 

Sniffles 

Mrs.  Davenport 

4.  Sketch    from    Pickwick    Papers. 

(Lady  with  Yellow  Curl  Papers)    Dickens. 
Mr.  Davenport 

5.  The   Bells E.  A.  Poe. 

Mrs.  Davenport 

6.  The  Town  Meeting.     (Introduc- 

ing eleven  Characters)  .    .    .    .    N.  O.  Body. 
Mr.  Davenport 


The  final  reading  was  given  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Davenport  on  the  13th  of  August,  and  on  the  17th 
they  left  for  New  York  by  the  overland  route. 
Stopping  on  the  way  at  Salt  Lake  City,  Mr.  Dav- 
enport appeared  as  Richelieu,  supported  by  Miss 
Annetta  Ince  as  Julie  de  Mortemar,  and  also  in 
Hamlet  and  some  of  his  other  more  important 
roles.  On  the  7th  of  September  they  left  for  New 
York,  which  was  reached  about  the  middle  of  the 
month,  after  brief  stops  in  Omaha  and  Chicago. 
A  tour  was  begun  at  the  Park  Theatre  in  Brook- 
lyn on  the  28th  of  September,  and  on  the  19th  of 
the  following  month  the  Walnut  Street  Theatre 
in  Philadelphia  was  visited.  During  the  first  week 
of  the  engagement  the  audiences  were  small  and 
unresponsive,  presumably  owing  to  the  superior 
attractions  of  the  sprightly  Lotta,  who  was  then 


<£btoatb  Hoomi£  SDatoenport         95 

playing  at  the  Arch  Street  Theatre  and  filling  that 
house  to  the  doors.  For  his  second  week,  Mr.  Dav- 
enport offered  a  five-act  sensational  drama,  written 
especially  for  him  and  entitled,  "F;  or,  Branded." 
In  this  play  he  assumed  four  characters,  viz. :  Duke 
Tyrrell,  a  gipsy ;  Felix  Reybauld,  a  spy ;  Montani, 
an  Italian  refugee ;  and  Hector  de  Riviers,z  French 
lancer.  The  style  and  characters  of  this  play  were 
alike  objectionable  to  Mr.  Davenport,  but  both' 
the  star  and  the  management  were  compelled  to 
succumb  to  the  public  appreciation  of  it.  The  audi- 
ences immediately  doubled  in  numbers,  and,  to 
quote  Mr.  Davenport's  own  opinion,  "it  was  the 
triumph  of  matter  over  mind."  This  play  was  fol- 
lowed by  melodramatic  versions  of  Cooper's  "The 
Pilot,"  with  Mr.  Davenport  as  Long  Tom  Coffin, 
and  Scott's  "Rob  Roy."  A  New  England  tour 
followed  until  March,  1869,  when  Mr.  Davenport 
was  engaged  to  act  Prosper o  in  an  elaborate  revival 
of  "The  Tempest"  at  the  Grand  Opera  House  in 
New  York.  The  cast  included  Frank  Mayo,  Wil- 
liam Davidge,  Miss  Blanche  Grey,  and  the  Mor- 
lacchi  ballet  troupe,  the  season  continuing  until 
the  15th  of  May,  Mr.  Davenport  giving  place  to 
Neil  Warner  during  the  final  week  of  the  run.  On 
the  24th  he  opened  at  the  Walnut  Street  Theatre 
in  Philadelphia  in  "St.  Marc,"  and  on  the  28th  a 
performance  of  "London  Assurance"  was  given 
for  his  benefit,  with  himself  as  Dazzle,  George 
Vining  Bowers  as  Mark  Meddle,  Fred  Maeder  as 


96        €btoat&  Hoomig  SDatoenport 

Dolly  Spanker,  Anna  Graham  as  Lady  Gay  Span- 
ker, and  Fanny  Davenport  as  Grace  Harkaway. 
During  the  summer  Mr.  Davenport  played  in  vari- 
ous places,  closing  at  Selwyn's  Theatre  in  Boston 
on  the  7th  of  August  in  "Faint  Heart  Ne'er  Won 
Fair  Lady"  and  "Black-eyed  Susan." 


MISS  FANNIE  DAVENPORT. 


1   '   tt  ( 


1     •   •  ,   •■ 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ON  the  1 6th  of  August,  1869,  Mr.  Davenport 
became  a  member  of  Augustin  Daly's  stock 
company  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  New  York, 
his  name  heading  the  distinguished  list  of  actors 
engaged  by  Mr.  Daly  for  the  inauguration  of  his 
first  season  at  the  little  house  in  Twenty-fourth 
Street.  The  company,  as  announced  on  the  first- 
night  play-bill,  stood  as  follows  : 


Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport. 

Mr.  George  Clarke. 

"     D.  H.  Harkins. 

'     J.  B.  Polk. 

"     George  Holland. 

'     W.  Davidge. 

"     James  Lewis. 

'     H.  Ryner. 

"     T.  F.  Egbert. 

'     George  Jordan,  Jr 

"     W.  Beekman. 

'     J.  M.  Cooke. 

"     F.  Chapman. 

1     Pierce. 

"     H.  Stewart. 

"     Peck. 

"     Neville. 

Mrs.  F.  S.  Chanfrau. 

Mrs.  Clara  Jennings. 

Miss  Marie  Longmore. 

Miss  Agnes  Ethel. 

"      Emilie  Keuhle. 

"      Fanny  Davenport. 

Mrs.  Marie  Wilkins. 

Mrs.  G.  H.  Gilbert. 

Miss  Emily  Lewis. 

Miss  Lena  Edwin. 

"      Rowland. 

"      E.  Ames. 

Misses  Tyson. 

"      Norwood. 

M 

iss  Almy. 

13 


97 


98  %  2&io0rapJ)p  of 


And  in  the  cast  of  the  opening  production,  T.  W. 
Robertson's  comedy  "Play,"  Mr.  Davenport's  name 
again  stands  at  the  head : 

The  Hon.  Bruce  Fanquehere  .    .    Mr.  E.  L.  Davenport. 

George  Clarke. 
W.  Davidge. 
W.  Beekman. 
J.  B.  Polk. 
George  Holland. 
H.  Ryner. 


Chevalier  Browne 

The  Hauptmann  von  Stockstadt  - 
The  Graf  von  Staufenberg    .    . 

Frank  Price 

Mr.  Bodmin  Todder 

The   Croupier 

Amanda Mrs.  Clara  Jennings. 

Rosie Miss  Agnes  Ethel. 

Mrs.  Kinpeck Mrs.  G.  H.  Gilbert. 

The  Flower  Girl Miss  Emily  Lewis. 

"Play"  remained  the  bill  at  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Theatre  for  three  weeks,  Miss  Fanny  Davenport 
replacing  Miss  Agnes  Ethel  as  Rosie  Fanquehere 
some  time  before  the  end  of  the  run. 

Of  Mr.  Davenport's  brief  experience  under  Au- 
gustin  Daly's  management,  Edward  A.  Dithmar 
has  written  as  follows  in  his  "Memories  of  Daly's 
Theatres" : 

I  have  a  vivid  remembrance  of  that  performance — of 
George  Clarke's  velvet  coat,  fascinating  whiskers,  and 
polished  villainy  in  the  part  of  Chevalier  Browne;  of  Mrs. 
Gilbert,  as  Widow  Kinpeck,  following  George  Holland, 
as  rich  Bodmin  Todder,  about  the  pump-room  grounds 
and  the  ruins  of  das  alte  Schloss;  of  dainty  Agnes  Ethel, 
as  Rosie  Fanquehere,  flirting  with  Mr.  Polk  as  the  stupid 
British  young  man.    Edward  L.  Davenport,  who  was  in 


€btoatb  Stoomi^  2Datoent>otk        99 


the  company  the  first  half  of  the  first  season,  was  rather 
out  of  his  element  in  this  trifling  modern  play.  I  remem- 
ber well  that  his  simulation  of  the  languid  manner  of 
the  Honorable  Bruce  Fanquehere  suggested  to  me  that 
the  elegant,  if  reprehensible,  idler  worked  very  hard  at 
his  dawdling.  But  the  splendid  presence  and  personal 
force  of  Davenport  were  always  valuable,  even  when  his 
eloquence  was  held  in  check. 

He  was  rather  more  at  home  in  the  second  play, 
"Dreams,"  also  by  Robertson,  which  was  first  done  at 
the  Gaiety  Theatre,  London,  in  March,  1869,  and  under 
its  sub-title,  "My  Lady  Clara,"  was  performed  in  Boston 
the  same  month.  "Dreams"  was  founded  on  a  short  story 
in  a  collection  of  tales  called  "A  Bunch  of  Keys."  It 
was  one  of  Robertson's  earliest  plays,  and  was  altered 
several  times.  In  London  Alfred  Wigan  "doubled"  the 
parts  of  the  elder  Von  Harfthal  and  Rudolph,  played  at 
the  Fifth  Avenue  by  Davenport  and  Clarke,  and  Madge 
Robertson  (Mrs.  Kendal)  appeared  as  the  heroine,  that 
being  the  only  one  of  her  brother's  plays  in  which  she 
ever  acted.  The  play  passed  through  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Boucicault  before  it  was  produced  by  Mr.  Daly.  Its 
story  was  the  very,  very  old  one  of  the  slighted  love  of  a 
poor  young  man  for  a  rich  young  woman.  James  Lewis 
made  his  first  appearance  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre  in 
it  as  John  Hibbs,  a  comic  British  bagman,  who  was  the 
good  genius  of  the  piece  and  the  friend  of  all  the  other 
personages. 

Davenport  was  seen  thereafter  as  Sir  Harcourt  Court- 
ly, Lagadere,  Don  Ccesar  de  Bazan  (when  his  daugh- 
ter Fanny  played  Lazarillo),  Sir  William  Dorillon  in 
"Wives  as  They  Were  and  Maids  as  They  Are,"  and  Sir 
Giles  Overreach  in  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts." 
This  last-named  part  was  one  inseparably  associated  with 
his  fame.  The  picture  he  presented  as  the  protagonist, 
in  this  play  of  Massinger,  of  sordid  avarice  and  malig- 


91  2&io0tapl)p  of 


nant  spite  was  incomparably  vivid  and  impressive.  No 
other  actor,  after  the  elder  Booth,  could  play  Sir  Giles 
as  well  as  he,  and  I  doubt  if  he  ever  played  it  better  than 
he  did  at  the  little  theatre  on  West  Twenty-fourth  Street. 
He  was  less  at  ease  as  the  venerable  but  love-smitten 
country  gentleman  who  served  as  hero  in  Andrew  Halli- 
day's  domestic  drama  called  "Daddy  Gray."  He  played 
that  part  as  if  he  was  not  quite  in  sympathy  with  it.  On 
the  whole,  I  think  that  Davenport  was  rather  too  large  a 
figure  for  Mr.  Daly's  pretty  little  stage.  His  was  the 
broad  manner  of  tragedy  and  the  higher  kind  of  romantic 
drama.  But  his  presence  as  a  member  of  the  company 
undoubtedly  helped  the  theatre  in  the  beginning. 

To  Mr.  Dithmar's  verdict  may  be  added  Lau- 
rence Hutton's  opinion  that  "Mr.  Davenport's  Sir 
Giles,  in  Massinger's  celebrated  comedy,  was  un- 
questionably the  finest  piece  of  acting  this  house 
has  seen." 

On  several  later  occasions  Mr.  Davenport  ap- 
peared on  Mr.  Daly's  stage,  thrice  taking  part  in 
performances  for  the  benefit  of  his  daughter  Fanny. 
The  first  occasion  of  this  sort  was  on  June  5,  1871, 
as  Sir  Harcourt  Courtly,  in  "London  Assurance," 
with  Miss  Davenport  as  Lady  Gay  Spanker;  the 
second  was  on  May  24,  1876,  as  Jaques  in  "As 
You  Like  It,"  with  Miss  Davenport  as  Rosalind; 
the  third  was  on  May  26,  1877,  as  Master  Walter 
in  "The  Hunchback,"  with  Miss  Davenport  as 
Helen,  Adelaide  Neilson  as  Julia,  Charles  Coghlan 
as  Sir  Thomas  Clifford,  and  Eben  Plympton  as 
Modus.     He  had  also,   in   December,    1874,   and 


4H»toarb  £ootm£  SDatoiport;    i '•;  *°V 

. i — t — , — ,    >  )n ji 

January,  1875,  given  a  series  of  special  perform- 
ances of  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts,"  "The 
Honeymoon,"  and  "The  Merchant  of  Venice"  at 
the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  supported  by  the  mem- 
bers of  Mr.  Daly's  company. 

After  leaving  the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  Mr. 
Davenport  appeared  in  Washington,  Pittsburg, 
Brooklyn,  and  elsewhere  almost  continuously 
throughout  the  spring  and  summer.  Beginning  on 
the  1st  of  June,  1870,  he  played  a  successful  en- 
gagement at  Selwyn's  Theatre,  Boston,  in  "Enoch 
Arden,"  the  cast  being  a  notably  excellent  one : 

Enoch  Arden E.  L.  Davenport. 

Philip  Ray H.  F.  Daly. 

Reuben Harry  Pearson. 

Captain  Sterling H.  L.  Bascomb. 

Boatswain J.  B.  Bradford. 

Walter  Arden .  Mrs.  T.  M.  Hunter. 

Peter  Lane T.  H.  Burns. 

Mayor C.  Stedman. 

Annie  Lee Mrs.  E.  L.  Davenport. 

Miriam  Lane Miss  Mary  Wells. 

Esther  Arden     .......        "      Mary  Cary. 

In  the  fall  Mr.  Davenport  played  engagements 
at  the  Academy  of  Music  in  Philadelphia,  the  Hol- 
liday  Street  Theatre  in  Baltimore,  and  Niblo's 
Garden  in  New  York,  where  he  acted  important 
roles  in  support  of  Mrs.  Scott-Siddons,  the  lead- 
ing juvenile  characters  being  assumed  by  Walter 
Montgomery.     On  Monday  evening,  the  12th  of 


io*  %  2&iogra#)p  of 


December,  he  undertook  the  management  of  the 
Chestnut  Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia,  offering 
"As  You  Like  It"  as  the  opening  performance. 
This  was  followed  by  "The  Hunchback,"  with 
Mrs.  Scott-Siddons  as  Julia,  and  further  produc- 
tions included  "The  Lady  of  Lyons,"  "The  Stran- 
ger," and  "The  Honeymoon."  Miss  Fanny  Dav- 
enport was  one  of  the  principal  stars  of  the  season, 
which  closed  very  satisfactorily  in  June  with  a 
benefit  performance  to  the  manager. 

Midway  in  this  season,  on  the  21st  of  January, 
he  went  over  to  New  York,  and  there  gave  one 
act  of  "Hamlet"  for  the  famous  Holland  benefit 
at  the  Academy  of  Music,  Miss  Agnes  Ethel  being 
his  Ophelia.  Of  this  performance  Laurence  Hut- 
ton  said  that  "the  audience,  as  large  as  the  great 
house  would  hold,  was  the  only  audience  to 
which  Mr.  Davenport  played  Hamlet  in  many 
years  that  was  at  all  worthy  of  the  actor  or  his 
part." 

He  then  played  for  a  brief  period  at  the  Globe 
Theatre  in  Boston,  appearing,  among  other  char- 
acters, as  St.  Marc,  with  Charles  R.  Thorne,  Jr., 
and  Josephine  Orton  in  his  support.  Through 
the  summer  of  1871  he  took  a  much  needed  rest 
at  his  home  in  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  and  in 
August  he  resumed  his  professional  duties  by  be- 
ginning a  brief  tour  at  St.  John,  N.  B.  His  sec- 
ond season  at  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre  opened 
September  4,  the  company  including,  besides  the 


€btoarb  Hoomig  SDabenport       io3 

Davenports,  Miss  Phyllis  Glover,  Miss  Lily  Dav- 
enport, Robert  Craig,  and  Charles  R.  Thorne,  Jr. 
On  Monday,  September  18,  a  season  of  old  English 
comedy  began.  The  theatre  steadily  maintained  its 
hold  upon  the  public  under  Mr.  Davenport's  man- 
agement. In  April,  1872,  Charlotte  Cushman  ap- 
peared there,  and  a  production  of  "Macbeth"  was 
arranged  wherein  Mr.  Davenport  and  the  star  were 
to  assume  the  leading  roles.  But  Mr.  Davenport 
was  taken  suddenly  ill,  and  Mr.  Couldock  replaced 
him.  Later,  however,  for  his  benefit,  the  original 
plan  was  carried  out.  The  season  closed  on  the 
1st  of  June.  After  spending  a  portion  of  the  sum- 
mer at  Minnequa  Springs,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daven- 
port returned  to  Philadelphia,  and  the  third  season 
of  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre  under  Mr.  Daven- 
port's management  began  on  September  14  with 
a  production  of  Augustin  Daly's  "Horizon."  The 
company  comprised  the  Davenports,  Charles 
Wheatleigh,  Harry  Josephs,  Edward  P.  Wilks,  Lily 
Davenport,  Louisa  and  Mary  Morse,  and  Fanny 
Jacobs,  with  the  stage  under  the  direction  of  John 
H.  Selwyn.  On  Saturday  evening,  November  9, 
Mr.  Davenport  made  his  "first  appearance  of  the 
season,"  playing  Sir  Giles  Overreach  to  a  large 
audience.  A  cycle  of  Mr.  Davenport's  most  popular 
characters  followed,  and  in  December  the  company 
began  a  tour  through  Pennsylvania,  returning 
to  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre  in  March,  1873. 
In  May  an  extravaganza  adapted  by  Mr.  Daven- 


/ 


io4  31  25togtapj)p  of 


port  and  entitled  "The  Centennial;  or,  What  We 
Expect  in  1876"  was  produced. 

Edwin  Forrest  died  in  December,  1872.  At  a 
meeting  of  actors  held  in  the  Walnut  Street  Thea- 
tre on  the  14th  to  take  action  upon  the  death  of 
the  tragedian,  Mr.  Davenport  seconded  a  motion 
proposed  by  Lewis  Morrison  that  all  members  of 
the  profession  able  to  do  so  should  attend  the 
funeral  and  wear  badges  of  mourning.  He  was 
also  appointed  member  of  a  committee  to  draft  an 
appropriate  set  of  resolutions  in  memory  of  the 
great  actor.  As  always,  Mr.  Davenport  was  not 
backward  in  bearing  public  as  well  as  private  tes- 
timony to  the  greatness  of  Forrest's  powers  as  an 
actor.  It  was  only  with  the  man — or  rather  with 
his  unlovable  temperament — that  he  could  not 
agree.  We  have  already  quoted  two  of  Forrest's 
biographers.  The  third,  James  Rees,  pays  an 
equally  warm  tribute  to  Mr.  Davenport : 

Now  that  the  actor  master  of  the  art  is  gone,  who  will 
rule  the  stage  and  sustain  its  classic  characters?  Not 
Edwin  Booth;  he  has  not  the  physical  or  mental  ca- 
pacity. Who  can  now  take  the  lead  in  the  rank  of 
actor?  Who  assume  the  sceptre?  Who  wear  the  crown? 
There  is  one  man,  and  the  only  man  who,  if  he  knew 
his  own  worth  as  we  know  and  appreciate  it,  whose 
name  should  now  become  the  synonym  of  Edwin  Forrest, 
and  that  man  is  E.  L.  Davenport,  the  best  living  actor 
on  the  stage.1 

1  "The  Life  of  Edwin  Forrest."    By  James  Rees. 


<£btoar&  floomi£  SDatoenport       io5 

Of  course  this  prophecy  is  sadly  unjust  in  its 
references  to  Edwin  Booth,  who  had  both  the  phys- 
ical and  mental  capacity  to  sustain  classic  charac- 
ters. Edwin  Booth  was  a  much  younger  man  than 
E.  L.  Davenport,  and  he  was  content  to  act  and 
to  excel  alone  in  a  single  line  of  characters.  To 
his  preeminence,  Mr.  Davenport,  had  he  lived, 
would  have  been  the  first  to  bear  the  tribute  of  an 
older  to  a  younger  actor.  Booth  himself  had  a  per- 
sonal regard  for  Mr.  Davenport,  and  they  had  upon 
rare  occasions  played  together,  usually  as  Othello 
and  Iago.  As  the  Hamlet  of  the  American  stage, 
Booth  was  unquestionably  Davenport's  successor. 

Not  long  after  Forrest's  death,  Mr.  Davenport's 
brother  called  upon  James  Oakes  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  securing  the  rights  to  "Metamora."  In 
the  course  of  the  conversation  Mr.  Oakes  re- 
marked :  "The  last  time  I  was  in  Philadelphia  be- 
fore the  old  man's  [Forrest's]  death,  we  were  in 
the  library  one  day,  after  dinner,  and  the  conver- 
sation turned  upon  actors,  although  that  was  a 
subject  Forrest  cared  but  little  to  discuss.  After 
some  general  remarks,  he  said :  'Well,  Oakes,  they 
may  say  what  they  please,  although  Davenport 
and  I  have  n't  spoken  for  years,  he  is  the  best  actor 
on  the  American  stage.'  " 

In  the  course  of  his  life  of  Edwin  Booth,  Wil- 
liam Winter  discusses  the  personality  and  art  of  a 
number  of  Booth's  most  prominent  contemporaries. 
He  says  of  Mr.  Davenport : 
14 


io6  %  2ftogra#jp  of 


Davenport  was  an  actor  of  extraordinary  versatility. 
I  have  seen  him  act,  in  one  evening,  Shakspere's  Brutus 
and  Roaring  Ralph  Stackpole  in  the  Indian  play  of  "The 
Jibbinainosay."  He  was  massive  and  weird  in  Macbeth. 
His  Duke  Aranza,  in  "The  Honeymoon,"  was  peerless. 
His  UArtagnan  and  St.  Marc  were  authentic  types  of 
nobility,  freely  and  broadly  exhibited  under  the  varying 
lights  of  humor  and  pathos.  His  Sir  Giles  Overreach 
was  a  sinister  and  grisly  embodiment  of  worldly  craft 
and  insensate  villany.  His  Othello  was,  in  construction, 
as  nearly  perfect  as  it  is  possible  for  a  work  of  art  to  be. 
Mind,  grace,  force,  variety,  and  occasional  flashes  of  fire 
were  characteristic  of  Davenport's  acting.  It  was  defi- 
cient in  soul.  His  nature  was  not  spiritual,  and  hence 
his  otherwise  excellent  Hamlet  was  as  metallic  as  the 
rapier  that  he  carried;  but  it  had  distinct  purpose  and 
definite  and  adequate  execution.  He  was  proud,  and 
justly  so,  of  his  performance  of  Sir  Giles  Overreach,  and 
he  often  expressed  the  intention  of  making  a  specialty  of 
that  character.  He  told  me  that  it  would  one  day  become 
as  popular  in  his  hands  as  Rip  Van  Winkle  had  become 
in  those  of  Jefferson.  He  forgot  that  Sir  Giles  is  abhor- 
rent to  the  human  heart,  and  accordingly  that  the  better 
it  is  acted  the  more  it  will  be  disliked,  and  the  more  it 
is  disliked  the  more  it  will  be  avoided.  People  can  be 
startled,  once  and  again,  by  a  superb  exhibition  of  bril- 
liant wickedness  and  horror,  but  they  cannot  be  charmed 
by  it.  There  is,  to  be  sure,  fascination  in  evil,  and  this 
sometimes  is  beautiful  and  potent.  But  it  does  not  strike 
deep,  and  it  does  not  endure.  Humanity  fears  a  monster 
the  moment  it  realizes  its  presence,  and  what  it  fears  it 
soon  hates.  The  safety  of  the  actor  who  embodies  Sir  Giles, 
Richard  the  Third,  and  Pescara  is  that  his  hearers  do  not 
apprehend  his  work  as  a  fact.  They  see  it  as  an  illusion, 
and  what  they  admire  is  the  skill  with  which  he  converts 
a  man  into  a  fiend.     Awful  strifes  of  passion  and  awful 


<£btoarb  Eoomig  SDabmport       io7 


depths  of  iniquity  and  suffering  are  suggestively  laid  open 
to  their  view  by  his  art,  and  he  therefore  shines  out  as 
a  wonderful,  dreadful  sorcerer.  But  the  honors  he  wears 
are  only  for  a  day  if  he  stops  at  that  order  of  achieve- 
ment and  does  nothing  to  captivate  affectionate  sympathy. 
Davenport  went  to  his  grave  unsatisfied  in  his  ambition 
as  to  Sir  Giles.  Everybody  admired  it,  and  everybody 
refrained  as  much  as  possible  from  seeing  it.  Davenport, 
however,  was  a  rare  actor,  and  to  see  him  as  William 
in  "Black-eyed  Susan"  was  to  see  acting  of  a  high  order. 
When  he  went  to  England  with  Mrs.  Mowatt,  playing 
Claude  Melnotte  and  kindred  parts,  the  eccentric  Knowles, 
of  Manchester,  said  to  him,  after  the  first  performance 
in  that  city,  "You  are  the  star — not  Mrs.  Mowatt,"  and 
Knowles  straightaway  commanded  that  Davenport's  name 
should  be  starred  in  the  bill.  Wherever  he  went  he  was 
admired;  and  yet,  heedless  of  intrinsic  royalty,  he  missed 
the  sceptre  that  at  one  time  it  seemed  destined  he  should 
wield.1 

On  Saturday  evening,  September  13,  1873,  the 
Chestnut  Street  Theatre  opened  for  the  fourth  sea- 
son under  Mr.  Davenport's  management  with  a 
performance  of  Bulwer's  "Money."  Early  in  No- 
vember the  company  again  went  on  the  road,  ap- 
pearing in  the  principal  towns  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Delaware,  but  the  return  to  Philadelphia  was  made 
less  than  a  month  later.  Beginning  on  the  8th  of 
December  with  Shy  lock,  Mr.  Davenport  gave  a 
series  of  farewell  performances  at  the  Chestnut 
Street  Theatre,  terminating  his  connection  with 


1  u 


The  Life  and  Art  of  Edwin  Booth."    By  William 
Winter.    New  York,  1894.    Pages  147  et  seq. 


io8       <£btoar&  itoomig  SDatoenport 

that  house  near  the  end  of  the  year  1873.  The  en- 
terprise as  a  whole  had  been  hardly  more  satisfac- 
tory than  the  venture  at  the  Howard  Athenaeum, 
and  Mr.  Davenport  retired  from  theatrical  man- 
agement wise  in  experience  though  not  rich  in 
pocket.  His  closing  performances  were  Shylock, 
Othello,  Richelieu,  and  Don  Ccesar  de  Bazan. 
Late  in  December  he  appeared  in  New  York  at 
Wood's  Museum  as  Rover  in  "Wild  Oats,"  and 
other  characters. 


E.  L.  DAVENPORT,  1874. 


CHAPTER   IX 

EARLY  in  January,  1874,  Mr.  Davenport  made 
arrangements  with  Alexander  Calhoun  for  a 
tour  of  the  New  England  circuit,  as  the  lesser  the- 
atrical towns  of  that  section  of  the  country  are 
termed  in  theatrical  parlance.  He  preceded  this 
tour  with  a  week  of  his  favorite  impersonations 
at  Albany.  The  attendance  there  was  large  and 
the  enthusiasm  remarkable. 

On  the  26th  he  began  his  New  England  tour  at 
the  Providence  Opera  House,  his  reappearance 
there  after  an  absence  of  several  years  being  re- 
ceived with  hearty  approval.  After  playing  in  all 
the  other  leading  towns  of  New  England,  a  brief 
Southern  tour  began  at  Richmond  on  the  23d  of 
February.  Late  in  March  a  return  to  Albany  was 
made,  and  on  Monday  evening,  April  13,  sup- 
ported by  Mrs.  Davenport,  he  was  warmly  re- 
ceived at  Wood's  Museum,  in  New  York,  in  the 
character  of  St.  Marc.  This  play  was  repeated 
the  following  evening,  and  "Oliver  Twist,"  "A 
New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts/'  and  "Macbeth" 
filled  out  the  week.  Thereafter  almost  continu- 
ously Mr.  Davenport  and  his  wife  toured  in  their 
repertory  of  standard  plays. 
109 


110  %  2Mograpl)p  of 


A  letter  written  by  Mr.  Davenport  to  his  friend 
Morrell,  the  New  York  publisher,  under  date  of 
August  10,  1874,  gives  an  excellent  insight  into 
his  ambitions  and  feelings  at  that  period.  It  was 
written  from  his  home  in  Canton,  Pennsylvania. 

Yours  of  July  30  was  duly  received.  Well,  I  confess 
I  did  not  award  you  any  prize  for  your  faithful  corre- 
spondence. However,  I  presumed  you  had  enough  else 
to  think  of.  I  believe  I  have  had  one  or  two  papers  from 
you,  for  which  thanks.  I  was  really  worked  too  hard, 
•and  had  I  persisted  another  week,  I  fear  I  would  have 
impaired  my  health  beyond  a  speedy  or  safe  recovery. 
However,  I  am  now  just  as  good  as  new,  and  hope  to  be 
able  to  run  my  race  with  the  worst  of  'em.  I  do  really 
think  I  must  have  a  heap  of  vitality,  or  I  could  not  go 
through  all  I  am  called  upon  to  perform,  and  I  guess 
there  's  something  in  me  yet.  I  was  not  over  impressed 
with  the  success  of  the  benefit.  The  returns  to  me  made 
were  $484,  of  which  I  received  one  half.  I  believe  the  storm 
did  more  havoc  than  W.'s  Museum,  for  if  folks  want  to 
see  a  thing  or  a  person,  they  '11  go  if  they  have  got  the 
dimes.  Of  course  it  would  be  far  better  for  any  legiti- 
mate actor  to  be  in  a  regular  theatre,  but  am  certain  no 
other  theatre  company  would  have  taken  more  pains  (of 
the  scenery  and  appointments  I  say  nothing).  If  I  were 
indeed  "the  ablest  representative  of  the  Legitimate  Drama 
living"  I  fancy  some  manager  who  charges  more  would 
want  me,  but  No.  They  all  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  applica- 
tions, and  the  general  reply  is  ('a  devilish  good  actor,  but 
don't  draw."  My  dear  fellow,  we  are  obliged  to  take 
75  cents  when  we  can't  get  a  dollar,  and  if  the  manager 
who  opens  his  doors  at  75  can  afford  to  receive  and 
pay  the  star  better  than  the  $1  fellows,  why  then  that 
settles   it.    Excuse  my  profanity,   but   I   do  think  it  a 


€&toarti  2loomi0  2Datoenj>ork 


d d  shame  that  I  am  thus  compelled  to  be  banished 

from  the  regular  theatres,  but  I  will  play  in  New  York 
willy-nilly  as  often  as  I  can.  I  wish  I  could  have  seen 
Fanny's  Nancy.  I  know  she  's  a  fine  artist,  and  must 
have  done  it  well.  As  for  all  Mrs.  D.  and  the  beneficiary 
did  for  you,  it  was  a  pleasure.  We  were  pleased  to  see 
your  enthusiasm  and  natural  love  for  the  art,  and  I  took 
much  pleasure  in  giving  you  the  chance  your  heart 
yearned  so  hungrily  for.  You  were  a  success,  bona  fide 
and  no  mistake.  The  only  error  you  committed  was  in 
returning  those  25  cents.  Why,  sir,  those  who  purchased 
felt  a  dollar's  worth  and  should  have  lived  on  and  died 
in  the  belief  of  having  paid  it.  You  should  have  pock- 
eted the  insult,  and  handed  it  to  the  sufferer  for  whom 
the  benefit  was  put  up.  I  do  think  some  of  these  days, 
probably  when  I  feel  like  retiring,  I  could  enjoy  a  testi- 
monial rightly  gotten  up  in  New  York,  Boston,  and 
Philadelphia,  which  would  place  a  nice  little  bank  ac- 
count in  my  hands.  Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  and 
Mrs.  Morrell  on  the  addition  to  the  family,  but  please 
don't  name  it  after  the  unlucky  wight  E.  L.  It  will  do 
no  good,  and  I  believe  (almost)  there  is  a  spite  some- 
where in  fate  against  E.  L.  and  all  he  does  or  deals  with, 
or  why  is  this  thusly?  A  conundrum.  Guess  it.  I  am 
glad  to  know  the  picture  is  working  its  way.  Did  you 
send  one  to  Ford  of  Opera  House,  Baltimore?  You 
ought.  Also  to  Mr.  Laffan  of  the  Baltimore  "Bulletin." 
I  play  there  in  November  2  weeks.  I  do  play  in  N.  Y. 
this  fall,  and  when  you  see  it  announced  you  '11  know  it. 
Niblo's  wanted  me,  but  I  was  afraid  of  it.  Daly  offered 
me  two  weeks  at  two  different  parts  of  season,  to  get  up 
Sir  Giles  and  Shylock  for  me,  but  I  do  not  think  it  would 
be  policy  for  me  to  let  my  name  down  again  in  N.  Y., 

and  I  had  better  reign  in  H than  serve  in  H n. 

Besides,  the  pay  is  better,  and  again  to  act  at  D.'s  place 
much  has  to  be  sacrificed  to  upholstery  and  furniture.    I 


112 


511  25io0tapl)p  of 


know  the  first  blood  drawn  at  old  Fifth  Avenue  was  by 
Sir  Giles,  and  yet  several  of  my  scenes  were  crowded 
down  within  3  feet  of  footlights  to  give  an  opportunity 
to  set  a  good  scene  behind.  However,  I  shall  have  a 
good  chance  to  do  some  of  the  characters  I  have  seldom 
done  in  N.  Y.,  and  Richelieu  and  Virginius  never.  It 
will  be  a  legitimate  (strictly)  term,  and  I  hope  it  will  do 
well.  You  ask  why  I  was  not  the  man  for  Miss  Cush- 
man  instead  of  G.  V.  Why,  I  am  an  American,  and 
consequently  cannot  act,  and  my  terms  are  not  high 
enough.  I  am  going  to  try  and  speak  Hamlet  in  Choc- 
taw. Won't  that  be  a  novelty?  Mr.  Oakes  is  a  brick. 
He  liked  my  picture  because  it  looked  like  Sir  G.  Over- 
reach and  not  E.  L.  D.  Mrs.  D.  desires  her  kind  regards 
to  you  and  Mrs.  Morrell;  also  sends  a  kiss  to  the 
B-A-B-E-E.  Tell  Mrs.  M.  with  my  compliments  I  hope 
it  will  live  long  and  happily  to  bless  her  and  you.  I  have 
found  Stephen's  address  (only  yesterday).  Oh,  but  he  's 
a  good  man  and  true.  And  so,  till  we  meet,  au  revoir  and 
believe  me,  Yours  very  sincerely, 

E.  L.  Davenport. 


In  the  summer  of  1875  he  played  a  special  en- 
gagement at  the  Howard  Athenaeum  in  Boston, 
"his  first  appearance  in  four  years,"  so  the  an- 
nouncements read.  The  plays  he  presented  were 
"A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts,"  "Jack  Cade," 
"St.  Marc,"  and  "Richelieu."  On  August  30  he 
went  to  the  Grand  Opera  House  in  New  York, 
opening  as  Hamlet  on  the  same  evening  that  sig- 
nalized Barry  Sullivan's  appearance  at  Booth's 
Theatre  in  the  same  character.  "The  comparison 
invited  by  the  presentation  of  these  rival  Hamlets 


<£Dtoarb  &oomi£  SDatoenport       «  j3 

was  not  favorable  to  the  Irish  tragedian,"  says 
Laurence  Hutton.  "Mr.  Sullivan  has  had  great 
experience  on  the  British  stage,  and  is  skilled  in 
his  profession,  but  his  Hamlet  is  melodramatic, 
harsh  at  times,  occasionally  overacted,  and  in  all 
respects  totally  different  from  the  quiet,  tender 
Hamlet  of  Mr.  Davenport.  Hamlet  was  not  Mr. 
Davenport's  greatest  part,  as  it  is  not  the  greatest 
part  of  many  of  the  great  Hamlets  of  the  present ; 
nevertheless,  it  was  a  singularly  complete  concep- 
tion of  the  character,  scholarly,  finished,  and  pro- 
found. The  Hamlet  of  E.  L.  Davenport  was  never 
so  popular  as  it  should  have  been,\nor  was  MB 
Davenport  himself  properly  appreciated  as  an  actorl 
during  the  last  years  of  his  life.  He  was  out  of  J 
the  fashion  so  long  that  until  a  far-sighted  man- 
agement engaged  him  to  play  the  part  of  Bru- 
tus during  the  famous  run  of  ' Julius  Caesar'  at 
Booth's  Theatre  in  1875-76,  he  was  only  known 
to  the  younger  generation  of  theatre-goers,  when 
known  at  all,  as  Miss  Fanny  Davenport's  father  l\ 
That  Davenport  at  the  close  of  his  long  career 
should  have  been  banished  to  the  Grand  Opera 
House  and  to  Wood's  Museum  in  upper  Broadway 
is  a  stronger  argument  in  favor  of  the  alleged  de- 
generacy of  the  drama  in  this  country  than  the 
unhealthy  popularity  of  the  emotional  plays  from 
the  French,  or  the  wonderful  success  of  what  is 
called  the  variety  show  style  of  entertainment,  un- 
known to  our  stage  before  the  war." 
15 


n4  %  2&O0tapl)p  of 


On  December  2J,  1875,  came  the  elaborate  re- 
vival of  "Julius  Caesar"  referred  to  by  Mr.  Hut- 
ton.  It  took  place  at  Booth's  Theatre,  with  Mr. 
Davenport  as  Brutus,  Lawrence  Barrett  as  Cassius, 
F.  C.  Bangs  as  Mark  Antony,  Milnes  Levick  as 
Ccesar,  Edmund  Collier  as  Octavius,  Mary  Wells 
as  Portia,  Rosa  Rand  as  Calphurnia,  and  Helen 
Morant  as  Lucius.  "In  the  quarrel  scene,"  re- 
marked a  theatre-goer,  "Davenport  looked  like 
some  grand  St.  Bernard  listening  to  the  snarling 
of  Cassius — Barrett."  The  run  lasted  until  April 
1,  1876,  and  "Julius  Caesar"  was  presented  nightly 
to  large  audiences.  Public  interest  in  the  produc- 
tion was  something  unprecedented.  On  Wednes- 
day afternoon,  March  22,  Mr.  Davenport  was 
tendered  a  complimentary  benefit,  the  affair  being 
made  especially  interesting  by  the  presentation  to 
him  of  a  suit  of  Roman  armor,  valued  at  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  At  the  end  of  the  New  York  season 
"Julius  Caesar,"  with  its  "star  cast,"  was  per- 
formed in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Brooklyn,  Wash- 
ington, Albany,  Providence,  and  other  Eastern 
cities.  In  the  fall  the  company,  still  with  Mr. 
Davenport  as  Brutus  and  Lawrence  Barrett  as 
Cassius,  began  a  Western  tour  which  continued 
several  months,  and  finally  ended  on  the  New  Eng- 
land circuit.  In  this  revival  he  played  Brutus 
two  hundred  and  twenty-two  times,  and  traveled 
many  thousands  of  miles.    Questioned  at  the  end 


MR.  DAVENPORT  AS  BRUTUS. 


<£btoarb  ftoomig  SDabenpott       *  *5 

of  the  tour  as  to  whether  he  had  not  wearied  of 
the  role,  he  replied: 

"No,  I  never  enjoyed  Brutus  more  nor  felt  more 
in  the  spirit  of  it  than  the  last  night  I  played  it. 
I  was  accustomed,  when  not  on  the  stage,  to  leave 
the  door  of  my  dressing-room  open,  so  that  I 
might  hear  the  noble  words  of  the  play.  I  did 
not  go  on  to  see  it — I  have  seen  it  so  often — but 
there  is  something  about  that  play  that  I  never 
tired  of."  Of  Barrett's  Cassius  he  spoke  in  the 
highest  terms,  but  of  all  Antonys  he  considered  the 
Antony  of  Walter  Montgomery  (who  played  that 
role  to  Davenport's  Brutus  and  Barrett's  Cassius 
as  early  as  1867)  by  far  the  best  he  had  ever 
witnessed.  To  a  question  as  to  his  favorite  role, 
he  replied,  "Othello."  In  answer  to  an  exclama- 
tion of  surprise,  he  explained  that  Othello  has  the 
sympathy  of  the  audience — they  hate  Iago,  they 
pity  Othello.  He  added — and  this  is  significant, 
in  view  of  the  opinion  of  William  Winter  quoted 
on  page  106 — that  he  had  "a  kindly  liking  for  that 
miserable  Sir  Giles  Overreach — Sir  Giles  has  not 
a  single  virtue."  "Why,  then,  do  you  act  the 
role?"  was  asked.  "Because  of  his  tremendous 
power  and  passion,"  he  replied.  "My  acting  in  it 
was  originally  an  accident.  I  was  playing  at  Wal- 
lack's,  and  talking  over  with  the  younger  Wallack 
the  characters  in  which  I  should  appear.  He  ob- 
jected to  one  after  another,  mainly  on  the  ground 


n6  31  25iograptjp  of 


that  they  were  his  father's  roles,  till  finally  I  ex- 
claimed: 'There  's  that  devilish  Sir  Giles!'  'Ah, 
that  's  just  the  thing/  he  replied.  I  played  it, 
and  it  has  been  one  of  my  favorite  parts  ever 
since." 

A  conversation  which  happened  at  this  period 
is  thus  narrated  by  one  of  Mr.  Davenport's  ac- 
quaintances : 


The  first  time  I  ever  saw  "Ned"  Davenport  was  in  the 
Parker  House  at  the  close  of  the  great  engagement  of 
Jarrett  and  Palmer's  "Julius  Caesar"  production  at  the 
Boston  Theatre.  "What  do  you  think,  boys,"  he  ex- 
claimed. "I  had  the  meanest  insult  offered  me  to-night 
that  I  ever  received  in  my  life!" 

"What  was  that?"  exclaimed  a  chorus  of  voices. 

"Why,  Lawrence  Barrett  came  to  me  after  the  matinee 
and  said  he  was  going  out  next  season  in  some  Scotch 
play — 'The  Man  o' — something,  I  can't  remember  what — 
and  said  he  had  just  the  part  in  it  for  me,  and  offered 
me  an  engagement." 

"What  did  you  say?"  asked  somebody,  when  the  laugh- 
ter had  subsided.  % 

"What  did  I  say !"  exclaimed  Davenport.  "I  told  Larryi 
I  was  a  full-fledged  actor  before  he  became  an  earthly 
affliction,  and  I  'd  break  stone  for  a  dollar  a  day  before 
I  'd  support  Lawrence  Barrett!" 

Ah!  Who  can  forget  that  production  of  "Julius  Cae- 
sar" ?  Who  can  forget  Davenport's  Brutus,  Levick's  C(£-  • 
sar,  Barrett's  Cassius,  or  Bangs's  Mark  Antony?  Some- 
how, Davenport  and  I  took  to  one  another,  and  thence- 
forth we  were  very  intimate.  I  cannot  betray  confidences 
spoken  to  me,  but  I  can  still  see  the  tear  trembling  in  the 
kindly  eye,  and  I  can  still  hear  the  tremor  in  the  rich, 


(gbtoarb  ttoomi£  SDabenporrt        i  «  i 


melodious  voice;  but  that  was  between  us,  and  concerns 
no  one  else. 

"I  '11  tell  you  how  it  was,"  he  said  once,  when  I  re- 
marked how  unsuccessful  financially  his  life  had  been.  "I 
remember  once  going  to  New  York  to  play  at  the  Winter 
Garden.  I  took  a  suite  of  rooms,  as  was  my  custom,  at 
the  Sturtevant  House.  The  price  was  one  hundred  dol- 
lars a  week.  I  started  out  to  find  my  old  friend  Frank 
Chanfrau.  At  the  theatre  where  he  was  playing  they  di- 
rected me  to  a  certain  boarding-house,  and  there  I  found 
the  great  comedian  in  a  seven-by-nine  room,  for  which  he 
paid,  with  board,  eight  dollars  a  week.  He  is  a  rich 
man,  and  I — " 

The  public  would  not  have  Davenport  in  "St.  Marc," 
and  his  Sir  Giles  no  longer  pleased.  The  nation  went 
crazy  over  Edwin  Booth's  Hamlet. 

"What  do  you  think  of  Booth's  Hamlet?"  I  once  asked 
him. 

"If  James  E.  Murdoch  had  never  lived,"  he  replied, 
"  'Ned'  Booth  would  be  the  finest  reader  of  Shakspere  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  There  it  ends.  He  is  not  a  great 
actor;  but  his  reading  of  the  text  is  divine." 

When  James  W.  Wallack  the  younger  died — the  man 
with  whom  Davenport  was  like  a  Siamese  twin — and 
Lucille  Western  passed  away,  he  seemed  to  feel  he  was 
left  alone.  The  Davenport- Wallack  combination  severed, 
he  never  felt  he  had  the  same  hold  on  the  public.  He 
went  to  Boston,  to  New  York,  to  Philadelphia,  to  Chi- 
cago, and  it  was  everywhere  the  same — bad  business. 

"Why  is  it?"  he  used  to  exclaim.  "In  Heaven's  name, 
why  is  it  ?  Can't  I  act  any  more  ?  Am  I  no  good  ?  Have 
I  outlived  my  usefulness?  Is  it  time  for  me  to  retire? 
Would  to  Heaven  I  could  retire!  Ugh!  This  cursed 
gout  will  retire  me  before  long. 

"I  sometimes  wonder  what  things  are  coming  to,"  he 
continued.    "Great  Caesar !    How  the  business  is  cut  up ! 


1x8  21  2&togta#)p  of 


^There  are  no  actors  any  more.  There  are  pantomimists, 
and  walking  gentlemen,  and  juveniles,  and  what-nots,  but 
no  actors." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  I  asked. 

"No  actors.  No  nine  changes  of  bill  a  week;  no  mas- 
tery of  a  new  part  in  forty-eight  hours;  no  rehearsals 
every  day;  no  bills  to  show  a  man's  versatility.  Why, 
I  've  played  an  act  from  'Hamlet/  one  from  'Black-eyed 
Susan/  and  sung  'A  Yankee  Ship  and  a  Yankee  Crew/ 
and  danced  a  hornpipe,  and  wound  up  with  a  nigger  part 
all  in  one  night.  Is  there  any  one  you  know  of  to-day 
who  can  do  that?" 

On  Monday  evening,  December  4,  1876,  Law- 
rence Barrett  began  a  season  at  Booth's  Theatre, 
New  York,  in  the  title  character  of  "King  Lear," 
Mr.  Davenport  being  especially  engaged  for  the 
part  of  Edgar.    The  cast  was  as  follows : 

Lear Lawrence  Barrett. 

Edmund Fred.  B.  Warde. 

Earl  of  Kent William  E.  Sheridan. 

Duke  of  Cornwall    .    .    .    .  E.  K.  Collier. 

Duke  of  Albany Harry  Langdon. 

King  of  France Louis  F.  Barrett. 

Duke  of  Burgundy    ....  George  W.  Wessells. 
Earl  of  Gloucester    ....  Henry  Weaver. 
Old  Man,   Tenant   to   Glou- 
cester    W.  W.  Graham. 

Physician  to  King  Lear    .    .  W.  Aytoun. 

The  Fool William  Seymour. 

Edgar E.  L.  Davenport. 

Goneril Miss  Gertrude  Kellogg. 

Regan "      Dora  Goldthwaite. 

Cordelia "      Stella  Boniface. 


<£btoar&  Hoomi£  SDatoengott       *  J9 

The  tragedy  was  produced  under  the  stage  di- 
rection of  William  Seymour,  who  five  years  later 
married    Mr.    Davenport's    daughter    May.     The 
part  of  Edgar  was  played  by  Mr.  Davenport  onr\ 
a  few  times,  and  on  December  9  he  left  the  com-\ 
pany,  and  was  succeeded  by  Frederick  Warde.    To  I 
play  even  Edgar  to  another  and  younger  actor's  » 
King  Lear  was  apparently  too  much  for  his  proud  * 
spirit. 

The  acquaintance  already  quoted  saw  Mr.  Dav- 
enport only  a  few  months  before  his  death.  He 
says: 

I  paid  him  a  visit  at  Nahant,  where  he  was  nursing  his 
gouty  limb  and  getting  ready  to  make  a  tour  under  the 
management  of  John  Stetson  in  "Dan'l  Druce."  I  al- 
ways hated  that  piece.  I  believe  it  was  Davenport's  death- 
knell.  He  said  it  was  a  beautiful  story,  but  a  wretched 
play.  But  I  always  thought  that  was  the  gout  talking. 
He  went  out  in  it.  I  was  with  him  in  Chelsea  when  he 
played  to  about  a  dozen  people.  He  was  in  such  pain 
he  could  barely  move,  but  he  never  gave  a  finer  perform- 
ance in  his  life.  Atkins  Lawrence  will  bear  me  out  in 
this.  I  remember  he  was  in  the  bill.  Then  he  got  dis- 
gusted, swore  he  'd  play  no  more,  gave  his  dresses  to 
Horace  Lewis,1  and  went  home  to  die.  There  is  no  doubt 
in  my  mind,  judging  from  the  last  talk  I  had  with  Dav- 
enport, that  he  knew  his  time  had  come.  We  were  in 
the  Parker  House  one  evening,  when  William  Warren 
came  in. 

1  This  statement  is  inaccurate.  The  costumes  were 
given  to  Joseph  Proctor,  from  whom  Mr.  Lewis  secured 
them  for  his  revival  of  "Dan'l  Druce." 


120  %  25iograpl)p  of 


"Ah,  Warren!"  exclaimed  Davenport,  rising  and  greet- 
ing the  comedian  with  the  courtly  grace  for  which  he  was 
distinguished,  "you  're  just  in  time  to  join  us.  What 
shall  it  be?" 

Mr.  Warren  took  a  seat  at  the  table,  adjusted  his  gold 
eye-glasses,  looked  quizzically  at  Davenport,  and  said : 

"Ned,  I  believe  you  and  Forrest  were  not  good  friends  ?" 

"No,  we  were  not.    Why  do  you  ask?" 

"Because  this  is  the  anniversary  of  his  death,  and  I  was 
going  to  propose  a  toast  in  silence." 

"Let  it  be  so,  sir,"  replied  Davenport,  catching  the  sen- 
timent of  the  comedian. 

The  glasses  were  raised,  and  Mr.  Warren  said  slowly: 

"Here  's  to  the  memory  of  a  great  actor,  a  grand  soul, 
a  good  fellow." 

"Amen!"  murmured  Davenport. 

Then  Davenport  leaned  across  the  table,  and,  looking 
Mr.  Warren  steadily  in  the  face,  said,  with  a  tremor  in 
his  voice :  "My  dear  sir,  you  and  I  are  pretty  close  to  the 
tag.  It  will  not  be  long  before  the  Great  Prompter  will 
ring  down  the  curtain  upon  our  little  act.  What  a  life 
yours  has  been!" 

Mr.  Warren  looked  up  and  caught  Davenport's  eye,  in 
which  a  tear  glistened. 

"My  life?" 

"Yes,  yours.  Beloved  of  the  people  of  this  city,  cher- 
ished by  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  it,  rich  in  fame, 
in  wealth — what  more  could  the  world  have  possibly 
done  for  you,  sir?" 

A  smile  passed  over  the  smooth,  waxen  face  of  the 
comedian,  as  he  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and  tipped  his 
high  hat  on  one  side  of  his  head  in  his  inimitable  fashion. 

"And  with  all  that,  Ned,  you  have  more  to  be  grateful 
for  than  I." 

Davenport  shook  his  head  wearily. 

"When  I  go,"  continued  the  old  comedian,  "my  name 


<£btoarb  Eoomig  SDatoenport 


121 


goes  with  me.  I  am  the  last  of  my  race.  There  are  no 
more  Metamoras  of  my  tribe.  But  you  leave  your  name 
to  the  custody  of  children  who  will  wreathe  it  with  glory." 

Davenport's  eyes  were  filled  with  tears.  So  were  War- 
ren's. 

\"I  often  go  back,"  said  Davenport,  "to  the  days  when 
II  remember  you  as  a  young  man,  when  Forrest  was  in 
his  prime,  when  Wyzeman  Marshall  was  young,  when 
Booth  was  a  boy,  and  when  I  began  my  career.  'How 
the  old  time  comes  o'er  me!'  as  Claude  Melnotte  says. 
Then  it  seemed  impossible  that  we  would  grow  old.  But 
now  it  is  a  painful  reality."  j 

"They  were  giants  in  those  days,"  muttered  Warren, 
abstractedly.  "Murdoch,  Forrest,  the  elder  Booth,  Bur- 
ton, Brougham,  Cushman,  Celeste,  Couldock;  ah,  Ned, 
we  shall  not  look  upon  their  like  again." 

As  we  walked  out  of  the  room,  loiterers  nudged  each 
other  and  whispered:  "That  's  old  Warren;  that  's  Ned 
Davenport." * 

1  "Boston  Evening  Transcript,"  November  8,  1894. 


16 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  great  actor's  busy  life  was  drawing  slowly 
to  a  close.  For  years  he  had  been  suffering, 
and  although  compelled  frequently  to  retire  for 
brief  periods,  he  returned  to  his  work  with  an  in- 
defatigable energy  and  a  renewed  zest.  He  had 
become  painfully  lame.  His  shoulders  stooped, 
his  eye  had  lost  some  degree  of  its  penetrating  lus- 
tre, his  heroic  figure  had  shrunken  in  stature,  but 
he  was  always  cheery,  jovial,  hearty,  and  forgetful 
of  the  ills  of  the  moment. 

The  final  effort  of  his  career  was  about  to  be 
made.  Attracted  by  the  dramatic  fervor  and  pathos 
of  W.  S.  Gilbert's  "Dan'l  Druce,"  a  play  based  in 
some  portions  upon  George  Eliot's  "Silas  Marner," 
he  determined  to  act  its  title  character,  and  on  Jan- 
uary 8,  1877,  appeared  therein  at  the  Walnut  Street 
Theatre,  Philadelphia.  The  public  immediately 
welcomed  its  favorite  actor,  and  the  play  at  once 
became  popular.  The  supporting  cast  included 
Geraldine  Maye  as  Dorothy,  Charles  Walcot  as  Sir 
Jasper  Coombe,  Atkins  Lawrence  as  Geoffrey  Wyn- 
ward,  and  George  W.  Howard  as  Reuben  Haines. 
The  engagement  at  the  Walnut  Street  Theatre  con- 
122 


€btoarb  3loomi£  SDatoenport       i23 

tinued  two  weeks,  and  then  Mr.  Davenport  began 
a  tour  through  Pennsylvania  and  New  York. 
While  at  the  Park  Theatre,  Brooklyn,  in  March, 
Mr.  Davenport's  illness  compelled  him  to  relin- 
quish the  title  role  to  H.  A.  Weaver  for  a  few  per- 
formances. On  Monday  evening,  March  5,  Mr. 
Davenport  was  able  to  appear  at  the  opening  of 
the  Boston  engagement  at  the  Howard  Athenaeum, 
and,  under  the  management  of  John  Stetson,  he 
continued  at  the  head  of  his  company  until  his 
illness  became  so  acute  that  he  was  obliged  to  go 
to  his  home  at  Canton,  Pennsylvania.  The  story 
of  these  last  professional  days  is  interestingly  told 
by  the  member  of  his  company  already  referred  to, 
Henry  A.  Weaver. 

The  last  part  the  great  actor,  E.  L.  Davenport,  ap- 
peared in  was  "Dan'l  Druce."  Notwithstanding  the  mer- 
its of  this  beautiful  drama,  it  was  not  a  success  in  Lon- 
don, although  that  fine  actor,  Hermann  Vezin,  created  the 
leading  character,  and  it  was  a  signal  failure  at  Booth's 
Theatre,  with  Lawrence  Barrett  in  the  part.  But  when 
Mr.  Davenport  added  the  piece  to  his  repertory,  there 
seemed  to  be  every  indication  it  was  about  to  receive  that 
recognition  from  the  public  its  great  merits  deserved. 
Certainly  no  finer  interpretation  of  the  character  could 
have  been  desired  than  that  given  by  E.  L.  Davenport. 
He  played  "Dan'l  Druce"  to  crowded  houses  at  the  Wal- 
nut Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia.  After  this  engagement 
he  was  taken  ill,  and  I  played  a  week  of  one-night  stands 
in  Pennsylvania,  appearing  as  Dan'l  Druce  in  his  stead. 
He  being  still  too  ill  to  appear  at  Colonel  Sinn's  Park 
Theatre,   Brooklyn,  I  filled  out  the  eight  performances 


i24  %  2&togra#)p  of 


there.  He  was  able  to  appear  the  following  week  in 
Boston,  and  the  character  of  Sir  Jasper  Coombe  was 
given  to  me,  so  that  I  should  travel  with  him  and  be 
ready  in  case  of  need  to  take  his  place,  for  he  did  not 
seem  to  be  thoroughly  restored  to  health.  He  played  in 
Boston  one  week,  then  a  week  of  one-night  stands  in 
New  England,  a  week  at  Ford's  Theatre,  Baltimore,  and 
then  a  week  at  the  National  Theatre,  Washington,  where 
he  appeared  for  the  last  time  on  any  stage  one  Saturday 
night  in  April,  1877. 

E.  L.  Davenport  was  one  of  the  most  genial  and  patient 
of  men.  I  have  seen  him,  during  the  long  run  of  "Julius 
Caesar"  at  Booth's  Theatre,  when  he  was  suffering  so 
from  rheumatism  in  one  of  his  hands  that  he  could  not 
bear  any  one  to  touch  it,  and  yet  he  would  be  all  life 
and  gaiety,  with  a  good  word  and  a  pleasant  smile  for 
every  one  around  him.  His  kind  and  amiable  disposi- 
tion endeared  him  to  his  associates,  while  his  great  abili- 
ties as  an  actor  won  their  unbounded  admiration.  During 
the  engagement  in  Washington  he  seemed  to  be  thor- 
oughly restored  to  health,  and  when  he  came  to  the  mat- 
inee on  Saturday  he  said  he  felt  like  a  boy  of  nineteen, 
and  was  in  exuberant  spirits  all  the  afternoon.  At  night 
he  complained  of  feeling  a  little  tired,  but,  notwithstand- 
ing the  part  of  Dan'l  Druce  is  an  exacting  one,  neither  he 
nor  the  company  feared  any  serious  results.  On  the  Mon- 
day morning,  however,  as  we  were  assembled  at  the  depot, 
preparatory  to  departing  for  Cumberland,  Maryland,  our 
manager  received  a  note  from  Mr.  Davenport,  saying  that 
he  did  not  feel  well  enough  to  play  that  night,  but  would 
join  us  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  do  so. 

We  all  felt  sad  at  having  to  proceed  without  Mr.  Dav- 
enport, and  sadder  still  when  we  received  the  intelligence 
that  he  had  been  removed  to  his  home  at  Canton,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  that  his  recovery  was  doubtful.  There  were 
but  two  weeks  more  of  the  season,  which  ended  at  the 


€btoarfc  3loomi£  SDatoenport       *  2  s 


Grand  Opera  House,  Cincinnati.  This  the  company  com- 
pleted. A  little  time  after  this  Mr.  Davenport  rallied, 
and  seemed  to  be  on  the  highroad  to  health  again;  he 
had  so  far  improved  that  he  made  arrangements  to  appear 
at  the  Walnut  Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia,  for  one  week 
in  "Dan'l  Druce."  The  bills  were  out,  and  there  was  a 
heavy  demand  for  seats,  but  on  the  date  of  the  perform- 
ance there  came  another  attack  which  precluded  the  pos- 
sibility of  his  appearing.  A  short  time  after  this  his  dis- 
ease seemed  to  take  a  favorable  turn,  and  his  recovery 
was  looked  forward  to  as  almost  assured,  and  this  time 
it  was  expected  that  he  would  make  his  reappearance  as 
Master  Walter  for  his  daughter  Fanny's  benefit  at  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  New  York.  But  alas !  these  hopes 
were  delusive.  A  third  attack  proved  fatal,  and  robbed 
the  American  stage  of  one  of  its  brightest  ornaments. 

During  the  summer  months  of  1877  Mr.  Dav- 
enport sought  rest  for  a  time  at  Nahant,  and  then 
went  to  his  home  at  Canton,  Pennsylvania.  From 
time  to  time  his  recovery  seemed  probable,  but  the 
disease  finally  reached  a  critical  stage,  and  he  died 
on  the  first  day  of  September.  All  the  members  of 
his  family  were  at  Canton  during  the  last  days 
of  his  life,  except  his  two  youngest  daughters, 
Blanche  and  May.  The  former  was  residing 
abroad,  and  the  latter  was  on  her  way  home  from 
Europe.  The  remains  were  taken  to  New  York, 
and  the  services  were  held  from  the  Fourth  Uni- 
versalist  Church,  at  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-fifth 
Street,  the  pastor  of  which  was  the  Rev.  Edwin  H. 
Chapin,  friend  of  Davenport's  boyhood  days.  The 
pall-bearers  were  Chief- Justice  Daly,  Judge  Brady, 


i26       <£&toarfc  ftoomi^  2Datoenport 

George  K.  Goodwin,  John  W.  Forney,  Edward  D. 
Stephens,  Frank  Mayo,  Henry  C.  Jarrett,  and 
Augustin  Daly.  Many  members  of  the  dramatic 
profession  were  present.  Dr.  Chapin's  concluding 
words  were:  "I  have  known  the  deceased  actor 
well,  particularly  in  the  younger  days  of  my  life. 
I  have  always  known  him  to  be  worthy  of  love  and 
respect.  He  was  faithful  in  his  profession.  He 
studied  his  art  conscientiously,  and  achieved  a  no- 
ble fame  and  reputation.  The  presence  of  the 
public  here  to-day  is  a  tribute  to  his  talents  and  his 
worth  and  purity  as  a  gentleman.  The  public 
gives  its  honorable  tribute,  but  there  remains  the 
pang  in  the  hearts  of  his  family." 

The  remains  of  the  great  actor  were  deposited  in 
the  receiving  vault  at  Woodlawn  Cemetery,  and 
some  time  later  were  taken  to  Boston,  where  they 
now  rest  in  the  beautiful  Forest  Hills  Cemetery. 
The  tombstone  bears  this  inscription :  "Our  Father 
who  art  in  Heaven.  E.  L.  Davenport.  Born  No- 
vember 15,  181 5.     Died  September  1,  1877." 


CHAPTER   XI 

IN  the  preceding  pages  frequent  mention  has 
been  made  of  Mrs.  Davenport,  who  from  the 
time  of  her  marriage  in  London  until  her  hus- 
band's final  days  on  the  stage  was  almost  continu- 
ously his  professional  comrade.  It  remains  merely 
for  this  chronicle  to  mention  the  few  noteworthy 
facts  in  her  life  hitherto  unrelated.  She  was  born 
in  London  on  July  16,  1829,  and  was  the  daughter 
of  Frederick  Vining,  at  the  time  of  her  birth  man- 
ager of  the  Haymarket  Theatre.  Her  mother  was 
the  daughter  of  John  Johnstone,  the  Irish  come- 
dian, and  another  daughter  of  that  actor  became 
the  wife  of  the  elder  James  W.  Wallack  and  the 
mother  of  Lester  Wallack,  whose  name  at  his 
christening  was  John  Johnstone  Wallack,  in  honor 
of  his  grandfather.  Mrs.  Davenport  and  Lester 
Wallack  were  therefore  own  cousins.  Her  stage 
career  dates  from  her  babyhood,  as  she  made  her 
first  appearance,  at  the  age  of  three,  in  some  play 
of  the  period  requiring  the  services  of  an  infant. 
After  a  precocious  childhood,  passed  in  close  asso- 
ciation with  the  stage  and  its  people,  and  a  few 
years  spent  in  studying  at  a  boarding-school,  she 
127 


i28  %  25io0tapl)p  of 


made  her  debut  in  1847  at  tne  Haymarket  Thea- 
tre, London,  as  Juliet,  to  the  Romeo  of  Gustavus 
Vaughan  Brooke  and  the  Mercutio  of  her  father. 
She  continued  to  play  leading  roles  at  the  Hay- 
market,  Drury  Lane,  and  other  London  theatres, 
in  association  with  Charles  Kean,  Macready,  and 
many  of  their  contemporaries. 

On  January  8,  1849,  sne  was  married  to  Mr. 
Davenport,  and  the  story  of  her  life  is  thenceforth 
one  with  that  of  her  husband.  She  made  her  first 
appearance  in  America  at  the  old  Broadway  Thea- 
tre, New  York,  as  Margaret  Elmore  in  "Love's 
Sacrifice,"  on  March  2,  1855,  and  for  the  twenty 
years  following  was  his  inseparable  companion. 
After  his  death  she  played  occasional  engagements 
here  and  there,  her  final  public  appearance  being 
made  on  April  7,  1890,  at  the  Globe  Theatre  in 
Boston,  when  she  played  Lady  Macbeth  to  the 
Macbeth  of  Joseph  Proctor  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Vincent  Fund.  She  died  at  the  family  homestead 
in  Canton,  Pennsylvania,  July  20,  1891. 

Nine  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dav- 
enport. Two,  Edward  Loomis  and  Adele,  died  in 
childhood.  The  remaining  seven  adopted  the  pro- 
fession of  their  parents. 

Fanny  Lily  Gypsy  Davenport,  the  oldest  and 
best-known,  was  born  in  London,  in  a  house  oppo- 
site the  British  Museum,  on  April  10,  1850.  Her 
first  appearance  on  the  stage  was  made  in  early 
childhood,  and  thenceforth  she  was  continuously 
and  conspicuously  before  the  public   for  nearly 


MRS.  E.  L.  DAVENPORT. 


<£btoarb  ttoonu£  SDatoenport       i29 

forty  years.  She  was  one  of  the  original  members 
of  Augustin  Daly's  company  at  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Theatre,  where  her  triumphs  were  numerous  and 
notable.  Her  first  appearance  there  was  made  as 
Rosie  Fanquehere  in  Robertson's  "Play."  In 
1878  she  became  a  star,  and  her  success  in  Shak- 
sperian  comedy,  in  modern  drama,  and  especially 
in  the  melodramas  of  Sardou  is  a  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  American  stage.  In  the  spring  of 
1898,  while  starring  in  "A  Soldier  of  France,"  a 
production  upon  which  she  had  spent  much  time 
and  energy,  she  was  compelled  to  abandon  her 
tour,  and  continued  ill  health  necessitated  her  re- 
tirement from  the  stage.  She  was  taken  to  Bos- 
ton, and  finally  to  her  home  at  South  Duxbury, 
Massachusetts,  where  she  died  on  September  26, 
1898. 

Blanche  Maria  Davenport  was  born  in  London 
on  July  11,  1 85 1.  She  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Boston  and  at  the  Convent  of  Notre 
Dame.  In  1867  she  played  at  the  Boston  Mu- 
seum. In  1869  she  went  to  Milan  to  study  sing- 
ing, and  remained  abroad  six  years.  On  her  re- 
turn she  sang  in  grand  opera  for  several  seasons 
under  the  management  of  Maurice  Strakosch  and 
others.  She  is  now  living  in  retirement  at  Can- 
ton, Pennsylvania. 

Lily  Vining  Davenport  was  born  in  Glasgow  on 
November  2,  1853.  During  her  father's  manage- 
ment of  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre  in  Philadel- 
phia she  appeared  in  important  characters.  Re- 
17 


x3°  51  25iogtapl)p  of 


( 


tiring  from  the  stage,  she  married  Mr.  Frost 
Thorne  of  New  York.  She  died  in  Philadelphia 
on  January  13,  1878. 

May  Davenport  was  born  in  Boston  on  July  21, 
1856,  and  appeared  upon  the  stage  of  the  Chestnut 
Street  Theatre  in  Philadelphia  during  her  father's 
management  of  that  house.  In  1879  sne  became 
a  member  of  the  stock  company  at  the  Boston  Mu- 
seum, making  her  debut  there  on  August  26  as 
Anna  Ivanowna  in  "The  Danicheffs."  In  1881 
she  played  in  the  company  of  her  sister  Fanny, 
retiring  from  the  stage  in  January  of  the  following 
year,  upon  her  marriage  with  Mr.  William  Sey- 
mour, the  well-known  stage  director.  Since  then 
she  has  appeared  only  occasionally  in  public.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Seymour  have  five  children,  and  their 
summer  home  is  at  South  Duxbury,  Massachu- 
setts. 

Florence  Cecilia  Davenport  was  born  on  June  16, 
1858,  and  appeared  on  the  stage  for  a  brief  period. 
She  now  resides  in  Philadelphia. 

Edgar  Longfellow  Davenport  was  born  in  Rox- 
bury,  Massachusetts,  on  February  7,  1862.  He 
appeared  on  the  stage  as  a  child  in  "Pizarro," 
"Damon  and  Pythias,"  and  other  plays,  but  did  not 
become  a  professional  actor  until  after  his  father's 
death.  He  has  played  at  the  Walnut  Street  Thea- 
tre in  Philadelphia,  as  a  member  of  his  sister 
Fanny's  company,  as  leading  juvenile  at  the  Bos- 
ton Museum,  and  in  many  traveling  organizations. 


<£&toarfc  3toomi£  J3Datomport       *$* 

During  the  season  of  1 900-1 901  he  supported 
Viola  Allen  as  Cardinal  Luis  de  Torres  in  "In  the 
Palace  of  the  King."  He  bears  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  his  father. 

Harry  George  Bryant  Davenport,  known  on  the 
stage  as  Harry  Davenport,  was  born  in  New  York 
on  January  19,  1866.  He  acted  while  a  child,  and 
took  part  in  one  of  the  juvenile  productions  of 
"H.  M.  S.  Pinafore/'  In  recent  years  he  has  ap- 
peared almost  exclusively  as  a  leading  member  of 
musical  comedy  companies. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Mrs.,  52 

Academy  of  Music,  New 
York,  67,  102 

Academy  of  Music,  Phila- 
delphia, 101 

Actress  of  Padua,  The,  81 

Adams,  Edwin,  73,  83,  86 

Addams,  John  P.,  7 

Aiken,  Frank  E.,  87 

Albany,  13,  74,  109,  114 

Alexander's  Feast,  6 

Alger,  Rev.  William  R.,  68 

Allen,  Mrs.  J.  H.,  80 

Allen,  Viola,  131 

Almy,  Miss,  97 

Ames,  Miss  E.,  97 

Anderson,  James,  29 

Andrews,  A.,  19 

Apostate,  The,  106 

Arch  Street  Theatre,  Phila- 
delphia, 41,  95 

Archer,  William,  36 

Armand,  18,  19,  26,  30,  31, 

35 
Astor  Place  Riots,  71 
As  You  Like  It,  25,  61,  100, 

102 
Aytoun,  W.,  118 

Baltimore,  57,  76,   101,   ill, 
124 
Ford's  Theatre,  124 
Holliday    Street    Theatre, 
101,  III 
Bangs,  F.  C,  114,  116 
Bannister,  N.  H.,  11 
Barrett,  George  H.,  8 


Barrett,  Lawrence,  68,  87, 
114,  115,  116,  117,  118, 
123 

Barrett,  Louis  F,  118 

Barron,  Charles,  87 

Barrow,  Julia  Bennett,  57,86 

Barry,   Thomas,   19,  57,  77, 

83 
Bascomb,  H.  L.,  101 
Beekman,  W.,  97,  98 
Belton,  Mr.,  28 
Ben  the  Boatswain,  11 
Bernard,  Bayle,  46 
Black-eyed  Susan,  4,  32,  39, 

40,  41,  42,  43,  44,  52,  S3, 

54,  55,  56,  58,  61,  74,  75, 

90,  96,  107,  118 
Blake,  W.  R.,  72,  81 
Blake,  Mrs.  W.  R.,  42,  76 
Blanchard,  E.  L.,  45 
Blanchard,  Kitty,  90 
Bohemian  Girl,  The,  12 
Boker,  George  H.,  61,  76 
Boniface,  George  C.,  82 
Boniface,  Stella,  118 
Booth,  Edwin,  71,  80,  82,  86, 

104,  105,  107,  117 
Booth,  J.  B„  8,  9,  68,  69,  71, 

100,  121 
Booth,  J.  B.,  Jr.,  11 
Booths,  The,  5 
Booth's  Theatre,  New  York, 

112,  113,  114,  118 
Boots  at  the  Swan,  58 
Boston,  3,  5,  6,  7,  8,  10,  19, 

57,  58,  59,  7i,  76,  77,  81, 

83,  84,  85,  86,  87,  88,  89, 


i35 


136 


Sinter- 


90,  96,  IOI,  102,  108,  III, 
112,  114,  Il6,  117,  123, 
124,   126,   128,   129,   130 

Boston    Museum,    58,   84, 

129,  130 
Boston    Theatre,    57,    58, 
81,  83,  84,  85,  89,  90,  116 
Continental  Theatre,  90 
Globe  Theatre,  102,  128 
Howard    Athenaeum,    83, 
84,  85,  86,  87,  90,   108, 
112,  123 
National  Theatre,  77 
Selwyn's  Theatre,  96,  101 
Tremont    Theatre,   8,    10, 
89 
Boston  Museum,  Boston,  58, 

84,  129,  130 
Boston  Theatre,  Boston,  57, 
58,  81,  83,  84,  85,  89,  90, 
116 
Boucicault,  Dion,  73,  77,  99 
Bowers,  Mrs.  D.  P.,  91 
Bowers,  George  Vining,  95 
Bowery  Amphitheatre,  New 

York,  12 
Bowery  Theatre,  New  York, 

11,  12,  78,  79 
Bradford,  J,  B.,  101 
Brady,  Judge,  125 
Brick  Circus,  Providence,  8 
Bride  of  Lammermoor,  The, 

.58 
Brighton,  England,  28 
Broadway     Theatre,     New 
York,  48,  52,  56,  59,  60, 
61,  66,  67,  75,  76,  79,  80, 
90,  128 
Brooke,  Gustavus  Vaughan, 
24,  25,  27,  31,  35,  45,  46, 
128 
Brooklyn,  55,  94,   101,   114, 
123 
Park  Theatre,  94,  123 


Brougham,  John,  72,  78,  79, 

81,  86,  121 
Browne,  George  F.,  8 
Brutus,  11,  13,  44,  57,  58,  85, 

88 
Buckland,  Kate  Horn,  19,  76 
Buckstone,  J.  B.,  40,  43 
Buffalo,  15,  74 
Bulwer,  107 
Bunch  of  Keys,  A,  99 
Burns,  T.  H.,  101 
Burton,  William  E.,  72,  77, 

78,81 
Burton's      Theatre,       New 

York,  75,  7&,  77,  78,  80, 

81 

Calaynos,  61 

Calhoun,  Alexander,  109 

Canton,    Pennsylvania,    no, 

123,  124,  125,  128 
Cary,  Mary,  101 
Cataract  of  the  Ganges,  The, 

84 
Celeste,  Mme.,  121 
Centennial,  The,  104 
Chambers     Street    Theatre, 

New  York,  79 
Chanfrau,  F.  S.,  12,  87,  117 
Chanfrau,  Mrs.  F.  S.,  97 
Chapin,  Rev.  Edwin  H.,  7, 

125,  126 
Chapman,  F.,  97 
Chapman,  Mr.,  76 
Charity's  Love,  61,  78 
Charles  II,  12 

Chelsea,  Massachusetts,  119 
Chestnut     Street     Theatre, 

Philadelphia,    102,    103, 

107,  129,  130 
Chicago,  76,  94,  117 
Chippendale,  William  H.,  12 
Christopher    Columbus,   90, 

9i 


3[ntie^ 


*37 


Cincinnati,  18,  57,  66,  125 
Grand  Opera  House,  125 

Clarke,  Annie,  87 

Clarke,  Con.,  78 

Clarke,  George,  97,  98,  99 

Clay,  Henry,  16,  17 

Clifton,  Ada,  81 

Coghlan,  Charles,  100 

Collier,  Edmund,  114,  118 

Compton,  Henry,  23,  27,  28 

Conner,  Edmon  S.,  42 

Conrad,  Robert  T.,  66,  67, 
69 

Continental    Theatre,    Bos- 
ton, 90 

Conway,  F.  B.,  52 

Conway,  Mr.,  27 

Cooke,  G.,  28 

.Cooke,  George  Frederick,  9, 

S3 
Cooke,  J.  M.,  97 
Cooke,  T.  P.,  34,  40,  41,  43, 

53 
Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  95 
Cooper,  Mr.,  23 
Corsican  Brothers,  The,  44, 

83 
Couldock,  C.  W.,  103,  121 
Covent  Garden,  London,  41 
Cowell,  S.,  23 
Cowell,  William,  57 
Craig,  Robert,  103 
Crampton,  Charlotte,  83 
Crisp,  W.  H.,  12 
Cumberland,  Maryland,  124 
Cushman,    Charlotte,   5,  30, 

72,  81,  82,  103,  112,  121 
Cymbeline,  27,  37 

Daddy  Gray,  100 

Daly,  Augustin,  97,  98,  99, 

100,   101,   103,   in,   126, 

129 
Daly,  Charles  P.,  125 

18 


Daly,  H.  F.,  57,  101 
Damon  and  Pythias,  67,  68, 

81,  85,  90,  92,  130 
Danicheifs,  The,  130 
Dan' I  Druce,  119,  122,  123, 

124,  125 
Davenport,  Adele,  128 
Davenport,  Adolphus  H.,  80 
Davenport,  Asher,  5 
Davenport,   Blanche   Maria, 

125,  129 

Davenport,  Edgar  Longfel- 
low, 130,  131 

Davenport,  Mrs.  Edward 
Loomis,  27,  28,  31,  44, 
46,  59,  60,  61,  74,  77,  78, 
79,  80,  81,  83,  84,  85,  88, 
89,  91,  92,  93,  94,  101, 
109,  in,  127,  128 

Davenport,  Edward  Loomis, 
Jr.,  128 

Davenport,  Fanny  Lily  Gyp- 
sy, 80,  90,  96,  97,  98,  99, 
100,  102,  113,  125,  128, 
129,  130 

Davenport,  Florence  Ce- 
cilia, 130 

Davenport,  Harry  G.  B.,  131 

Davenport,  Lily  Vining,  103, 
129 

Davenport,  May,  119,  125, 
130 

Davenport,  N.  T.,  57 

Davidge,  William,  52,  95,  97, 
98 

Dean,  Julia,  72,  86 

Denin,  Susan,  19 

De  Soto;  or,  the  Hero  of 
the  Mississippi,  79,  80 

Devlin,  Mary,  81,  82,  83 

Dickens,  Charles,  43,  89,  94 

Dithmar,  Edward  A.,  97,  98, 

99 
Don  Ccesar  de  Bazan,  99, 108 


i38 


3(n&ejt. 


Doughterty,  Mr.,  19 

Douglas,  10 

Dreams,  99 

Drury  Lane,  London,  38,  41, 

44,  45,  52,  60,  128 
Dublin,  44 

Duke's  Motto,  The,  99 
Dunn,  Mr.,  78 


Ford's   Theatre,   Baltimore, 

124 
Forney,  John  W.,  126 
Forrest,  Edwin,  5,  7,  10,  19, 
51,  66,  67,  68,  69,  70,  71, 
73,  77,  104,  120,  121 
Forrester,  Mr.,  57 
Francesco  da  Rimini,  76 


East  Lynne,  90 
Edinburgh,  44 
Edwin,  Miss  Lena,  97 
Egbert,  T.  F.,  97 
Egyptian;    or,    the   Fall   of 

Palmyra,  The,  59 
Eliot,  George,  122 
Elliston,  R.  W.,  40,  41 
Enoch  Arden,  89,  101 
Ethel,  Agnes,  97,  98,  102 
Everybody's  Mess,  11 
Exchange     Coffee     House, 

Boston,  7 
Eytinge,  Rose,  89 
Eytinge,  Sol,  76,  80 

F;  or,  Branded,  95 

Faint    Heart    Ne'er     Won 

Fair  Lady,  96 
Farren,  Mrs.,  86 
Fashion,  31 
Faucit,  Helen,  30,  46 
Fazio,  15 
Fenno,  Mr.,  76 
Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  New 

York,    97,    98,    99,    100, 

101,  112,  125,  129 
Fisher,  Charles,  23,  76,  78, 

81 
Florence,  William  J.,  73,  86 
Florence,   Mrs.   William  J., 

86 
Fonblanque,  93 
Ford,  John  T.,  in 


Gaiety  Theatre,  London,  99 

Gallagher,  Mr.,  52 

Genevieve;  or,  the  Reign  of 
Terror,  77,  78 

Gilbert,  Mrs.  G.  H.,  97,  98 

Gilbert,  John,  57,  72,  81,  82 

Gilbert,  Mrs.  John,  81 

Gilbert,  W.  S.,  122 

Gladstane,  Mrs.,  88 

Glasgow,  44,  129 

Globe  Theatre,  Boston,  102, 
128 

Glover,  Phyllis,  103 

Gold,  44,  45 

Golden  Farmer,  The,  n 

Goldthwaite,  Dora,  118 

Goodwin,  George  K.,  126 

Gougenheim,  Josie,  52 

Gouldson,  Mr.,  57 

Graham,  Anna,  96 

Graham,  W.  W.,  118 

Grand  Opera  House,  Cin- 
cinnati, 125 

Grand  Opera  House,  New 
York,  95,  112,  113 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.,  70 

Grattan,  Mrs.  H.  P.,  57 

Grey,  Blanche,  95 

Grosvenor,  J.,  52 

Hackett,  J.  H.,  46,  72 
Haines,  Mr.,  28 
Halliday,  Andrew,  100 
Hamblin,  Thomas  S.,  n 


3[n&a% 


J39 


Hamlet,  6,  38,  43,  57,  59,  61, 
62,  63,  77,  78,  80,  88,  90, 
91,  94,  102,  105,  106,  112, 
113,  117,  118 

Harcourt,  Mr.,  57 

Hardenbergh,  Frank,  87 

Harding,  Emma,  75 

Harkins,  D.  H.,  97 

Harris,  A.,  23 

Hartford,  Connecticut,  6 

Haymarket  Theatre,  Lon- 
don, 35,  36,  38,  39,  42, 
44,  75,  127,  128 

Hayne,  Julia  Dean,  72,  86 

Hazlitt,  William,  9 

Heir-at-Law,  The,  72 

Henderson,  John,  9 

Henry,  Mr.,  23 

Heron,  Matilda,  72,  86 

He's  Not  Amiss,  11 

Hield,  Mr.,  19 

Hill,  T.,  23 

Hoey,  Mrs.  John,  80 

Holland,  George,  83,  97,  98, 
102 

Holliday  Street  Theatre, 
Baltimore,  101 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  93 

Holmes,  Mr.,  57 

Honeymoon,  The,  58,  77,  81, 

101,  102,  106 
H  oris  on,  103 
Horn,  Kate,  19,  76 
How  She  Loves  Him,  88 
Howard,  George  W.,  122 
Howard,  J.,  28 

Howard  Athenaeum,  Bos- 
ton, 83,  84,  85,  86,  87, 
90,  108,  112,  123 

Howe,  J.  B.,  57,  78 

Hunchback,  The,  22,  23,  100, 

102,  125 

Hunt,  Mrs.  Henry,  13 
Hunter,  Mrs.  T.  M.,  101 


Hutton,    Laurence,    16,    52, 
78,  100,  102,  113,  114 

Ince,  Annetta,  94 

Ingersoll,  David,  8 

In  the  Palace  of  the  King, 

131 
Ireland,  Joseph  N.,  10,  80 
It   Is   Never    Too   Late    to 

Mend,  45 
Ivanhoe,  12 

Jack  Cade,  67,  69,  112 

Jacobs,  Fanny,  103 

Jarrett,    Henry    C.,    80,    89, 

116,  126 
Jefferson,    Joseph,    72,    73, 

106 
Jeffersons,  The,  5,  72 
Jennings,  Mrs.  Clara,  97,  98 
Jerrold,  Blanchard,  41 
Jerrold,  Douglas,  40,  41,  42, 

43,  .53,  93 
Jibbinainosay,  The,  106 
Joannes,  The  Count,  13 
Johnson,  G.,  57 
Johnson,  G.  W.,  57 
Johnson,  S.  D.,  57 
Johnstone,  John,  127 
Jones,  George,  13 
Jones,  Mrs.  Melinda,  12,  13 
Jordan,  George,  Jr.,  97 
Josephs,  Harry,  103 
Julius  Ccesar,  37,  38,  43,  80, 

81,    106,    113,    114,    116, 

124 

Kean,  Charles,  78,  128 
Kean,  Edmund,  9,  68,  69 
Keene,  Laura,  72 
Kellogg,  Gertrude,  118 
Kemble,  Charles,  47 
Kemble,  John  Philip,  9 


140 


Sfnbejr* 


Kendal,  Mrs.,  99 
Keuhle,  Emilie,  97 
King  Henry  IV,  72 
King  Henry  VIII,  38,  81,  82 
King  John,  38,  47,  78,  79 
King  Lear,  38,  118,  119 
King  of  the  Commons,  88 
King   Richard   III,    57,    58, 

01,  63,  64,  65,  76,  80,  106 
Kinloch,  Mr.,  28 
Knowles,    James    Sheridan, 

19,  27 
Knowles,  Mr.,  107 

Lady  of  Lyons,  The,  12,  13, 
21,  24,  35,  44,  51,  57, 
107,  121 

Lady  of  the  Lake,  The,  89 

Laffan,  Mr.,  in 

Lanergan,  J.  W.,  76 

Langdon,  Harry,  118 

Last  of  1001  Nights,  The,  12 

Lawrence,  Atkins,  119,  122 

Leffingwell,  M.  W.,  52,  56 

Lemon,  Mark,  43 

LeMoyne,  William  J.,  87 

Lend  Me  Five  Shillings,  72 

Levick,  Milnes,  114,  116 

Lewes,  George  Henry,  31 

Lewis,  Emily,  97,  98 

Lewis,  Horace,  119 

Lewis,  James,  97,  99 

Lion  Theatre,  Providence,  8 

Liverpool,   19,  75 
Theatre  Royal,  75 

London,  18,  21,  22,  23,  24, 
25,  26,  27,  29,  31,  32,  34, 
35,  38,  39,  40,  41,  44,  52, 
60,  75,  78,  99,  127,  128, 
129 
Covent  Garden,  41 
Dntry  Lane,  38,  41,  44,  45, 

52,  60,  128 
Gaiety  Theatre,  99 


London,    Haymarket   Thea- 
tre, 35,   36,   38,  39,   42, 
44,  75,  127,  128 
Marylebone    Theatre,    25, 

26,  27,  29,  32,  34 
Olympic  Theatre,  24,  27, 

32,  34 
Princess's  Theatre,  22,  24, 

78 
Surrey  Theatre,  39,  40,  41 

London  Assurance,  95,  99, 
100 

Longmore,  Marie,  97 

Lords  of  Ellingham,  The, 
24,  25 

Lotta,  94 

Louisville,  16 

Love,  19,  27 

Love  and  Loyalty,  61 

Love  Chase,  The,  12 

Love's  Sacrifice,  59,  60,  61, 
128 

Lovell,  Mr.,  6 

Lynn,  Massachusetts,  7 

Lyster,  Mr.,  57 

Macbeth,  26,  39,  43,  44,  81, 
82,  93,  103,  109,  128 

McCullough,  John,  87 

Macready,  18,  29,  36,  37,  38, 
39,  128 

Mile.  d'Angerville,  in 

Maeder,  Fred,  95 

Manchester,  England,  21, 22, 
107 
Theatre  Royal,  21 

Manners,  Josephine,  75,  76 

Man  0'  Airlie,  The,  116 

Marshall,  Wyzeman,  121 

Marshall,  Miss,  28 

Marshalls,  The,  75 

Marylebone  Theatre,  Lon- 
don, 25,  26,  27,  29,  32, 
34 


Sinter* 


141 


Massinger,   Thomas,   9,   99, 

100 
Maye,  Geraldine,  122 
Mayo,  Frank,  73,  95,  126 
Mears,  Miss,  28 
Merchant   of    Venice,    The, 

38,  44,  55,  61,  101,  107, 

108,  in 
Metamora,  105 
Metropolitan    Theatre,    San 

Francisco,  91 
Milan,  129 

Miles,  George  H.,  79,  80 
Military  Manoeuvres,  n 
Minnequa  Springs,  Pennsyl- 
vania, 103 
Mitchell,  Maggie,  86 
Money,  107 

Montague,  Emmeline,  23 
Montgomery,    Walter,    101, 

115 
Morant,  Helen,  114 
Morlacchi  Ballet  Troupe,  95 
Mormons,  The,  80,  81 
Morning  Call,  A,  61 
Morrell,  T.  H.,  no,  111,112 
Morrell,    Mrs.    T.    H.,    in, 

112 
Morris,  Mr.,  28 
Morrison,  Lewis,  104 
Morrison,  Mr.,  28 
Morse,  Louisa,  103 
Morse,  Mary,  103 
Mowatt,  Anna  Cora,  12,  14, 

15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  21,  22, 

23,  25,  26,  30,  31,  34,  35, 

107 
Mowatt,  Mr.,  15,  17,  18,  35 
Much  Ado  about  Nothing, 

6,  15,  23,  31,  38,  47,  57, 

61 
Muckwell,  Mr.,  23 
Murdoch,  James  E.,  30,  61, 

72,  117,  121 

18* 


Myers,  Louisa,  90 
My  Lady  Clara,  99 

Nagle,  Mrs.,  76 

Nahant,  Massachusetts,  119, 

125 
Nan  the  Good  for  Nothing, 

.43 
National    Theatre,    Boston, 

77 

National  Theatre,  Washing- 
ton, 124 

Neilson,  Adelaide,  100 

Neville,  Mr.,  97 

New  Bedford,  9 

New  Haven,  5 

New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts, 
A,  6,  8,  9,  61,  68,  74,  92, 
99,  100,  101,  103,  106, 
107,  109,  in,  112,  115, 
116 

New  York,  10,  11,  12,  15, 
18,  19,  35,  46,  48,  53,  57, 
59,  60,  61,  66,  67,  71,  75, 
76,  77,  78,  79,  80,  82,  85, 
87,  88,  90,  91,  94,  95,  97, 
101,  102,  108,  109,  no, 
in,  112,  113,  114,  115, 
117,  118,  124,  125,  128, 
129,  130,  131 
Academy    of    Music,    67, 

102 
Booth's  Theatre,  112,  113, 

114,  118,  124 
Bowery  Amphitheatre,  12 
Bowery    Theatre,    11,    12, 

78,  79 
Broadway  Theatre,  46,  52, 
56,  59,  60,  61,  66,  67,  75, 

76,  79,  80,  90,  128 
Burton's  Theatre,  75,  76, 

77,  78,  80,  81 
Chambers  Street  Theatre, 

79 


142 


3[nbejt, 


New    York,    Fifth    Avenue 
Theatre,  97,  98,  99,  100, 
101,  112,  125,  129 
Grand  Opera  House,  95, 

112,  113 
Niblo's  Garden,  12,  35,  82, 

85,  88,  101,  in 
Niblo's  Theatre,  11 
Park  Theatre,  15,  19,  76 
Wallack's  Theatre,  75,  80 
Winter  Garden,  80,  87,  117 
Wood's  Museum,  53,  108, 
109,  no,  113 
Niblo's  Garden,  New  York, 
12,  35,  82,  85,  88,   101, 
in 
Niblo's  Theatre,  New  York, 

n 
Nesbitt,  Mrs.,  30 
Noble  Heart,  A,  31,  58 
Norton,  Mr.,  23 
Norwood,  Miss,  97 

Oakes,  James,  77,  105,  112 
Old     Heads     and      Young 

Hearts,  n 
Oliver  Twist,  89,  90,  91,  109 
Olympic    Theatre,    London, 

24,  27,  32,  34 
Omaha,  94 

Orton,  Josephine,  83,  87,  102 
Othello,  4,  6,  24,  25,  26,  31, 

34,  37,  38,  42,  45,  47,  49, 

57,  58,  59,  61,  65,  66,  68, 

80,  81,  86,  88,  105,  106, 

108,  115 
Our  American   Cousin,   72, 

83,  86,  87 
Oxenford,  John,  27 
Owens,  John  E.,  88 

Palmer,  Henry  D.,  116 
Palmer,  Mr.,  23 


Park  Theatre,  Brooklyn,  94, 

123 
Park   Theatre,    New    York, 

15,  19,  76 
Paul,  Howard,  42 
Pauncefort,  George,  57 
Payne,  John  Howard,  n,  58 
Pearson,  Harry,  101 
Peck,  Mr.,  97 
Phelps,  H.  P.,  13 
Phelps,  Samuel,  36,  61 
Philadelphia,  10,  42,  57,  60, 

76,   87,   88,   91,    94,   95, 

101,  102,  103,  107,  114, 
117,  122,  123,  125,  129, 
130 

Academy  of  Music,  101 
Arch  Street  Theatre,  41, 

95 
Chestnut    Street   Theatre, 

102,  103,  104,  107,  129, 
130 

Walnut  Street  Theatre, 
10,  76,  88,  94,  95,  104, 
122,  123,  125,  130 

Pierce,  Mr.,  97 

Pilot,  The,  40,  95 

Pinafore,  131 

Pittman,  T.  W.,  12 

Pittsburg,  101 

Pisarro,  130 

Placide,  Henry,  72,  78,  82 

Placide,  Thomas,  88 

Play,  98,  99,  129 

Plympton,  Eben,  100 

Pocahontas,  86 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  94 

Polk,  J.  B.,  97,  98 

Ponisi,  Mme.,  52,  53,  59,  76 

Poor  Scholar,  The,  77 

Pope,  Mrs.  Coleman,  30 

Princess's  Theatre,  London, 
22,  24,  78 

Proctor,  Joseph,  81,  119,  128 


Snter* 


J43 


Providence,    Rhode    Island, 
8,  14,  61,  109,  114 
Brick  Circus,  8 
Lion  Theatre,  8 
Putnam;  or,  the  Iron  Son 
of  76,  11 

Rand,  Rosa,  114 
Rankin,  McKee,  90 
Rankin,  Mrs.  McKee,  90 
Raymond,  John  T.,  j$ 
Reade,  Charles,  44,  45 
Reade,  Charles  L.,  45 
Reade,  Rev.  Compton,  45 
Rees,  James,  104 
Reignolds,  Kate,  78,  79 
Richelieu,  10,  38,  92,  94,  108, 

112 
Richmond,  Virginia,  35,  109 
Rip  Van  Winkle,  22,  106 
Ritchie,  William  R,  35 
Rivals,  The,  72,  88 
Robertson,    T.    W.,   98,   99, 

129 
Robin  Hood,  11 
Rob  Roy,  95 
Robson,  Stuart,  73 
Robson,  William,  61 
Romeo   and   Juliet,    15,    16, 

27,  47,  61,  81,  82,  128 
Rough  Diamond,  The,  89 
Rowland,  Miss,  97 
Roxbury,        Massachusetts, 

102,  130 
Ryder,  Mr.,  28 
Ryner,  H.,  97,  98 

St.  John,   New   Brunswick, 

102 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  57 
St.  Marc,  52,  53,  54,  58,  90, 

92,  95,  102,  106,  109,  112, 

117 
St.  Ybars,  Latour  de,  27 


Salt  Lake  City,  94 
Salvini,  Tommaso,  63 
San  Francisco,  3,  91,  92 

Metropolitan  Theatre,  91 
Sardou,  Victorien,  129 
Sargent,  Epes,  27 
Scalp  Hunters,  The,  74 
Scharf,  Mr.,  28 
School  for  Scandal,  77,  80, 

82,  88 
Scott,  John  R.,  11,  12 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  95 
Scott-Siddons,     Mrs.,     101, 

102 
Sefton,  John,  11 
Selwyn,  John  H.,  83,  103 
Selwyn's    Theatre,    Boston, 

96,  101 
Serle,  J.  D.,  26 
Setchell,  Dan,  78,  81,  83 
Seymour,  James,  52 
Seymour,  William,  118,  119, 

130 
Seymour,  Mrs.,  27,  28 
Shadow  on  the  Wall,  The, 

26 
Shakspere,  30,  74,  76,  78,  79, 

88,  129 
Sheridan,  William  E.,  118 
She  Stoops  to  Conquer,  81 
Shewell,  L.  R.,  81 
Silas  Marner,  122 
Sinn,  William  E.,  123 
Skerrett,  Mrs.,  88 
Sleeping  Beauty,  The,  12 
Smith,  Albert,  28 
Smith,  E.  T.,  45 
Smith,  Mark,  78,  81,  88 
Smith,  W.  H.,  90 
Soldier  of  France,  A,  129 
Sothern,  E.  A.,  73 
South  Duxbury,  Massachu- 
setts, 129,  130 
Spicer,  Henry,  24,  27 


i44 


S(nbejt- 


Stacy,  Mr.,  23 

Stanton,  Mr.,  28 

Stedman,  C,  101 

Stephens,  Edward  D.,  126 

Stetson,  John,  119,  123 

Stewart,  H.,  97 

Still  Waters  Run  Deep,  88, 

90 
Stirling,  Edward,  44,  45 
Strakosch,  Maurice,  129 
Stranger,    The,   57,   58,   81, 

102 
Struggle  for  Gold,  A,  80 
Sullivan,  Barry,  35,  112,  113 
Surrey  Theatre,  London,  39, 

40,  41 

Tempest,  The,  76,  77,  95 
Thackeray,  W.  M.,  43 
Theatre  Royal,  Liverpool,  75 
Theatre  Royal,  Manchester, 

21 
Thorne,  Charles  R.,  Jr.,  73, 

102,  103 
Thorne,  Frost,  130 
Three  Guardsmen,  The,  106 
Tremont  Theatre,  Boston,  8, 

10,  89 
Twelfth  Night,  27,  31 
Twickenham,  England,  35 
Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona, 

28,  31  . 
Tyrrell,  Miss,  30 
Tyson,  The  Misses,  97 

Vandenhoff,  George,  36,  37, 

112 
Velasco,  2.7 
Venice  Preserved,  47 
Vernon,  Mrs.,  19 
Vezin,  Hermann,  123 
Vicksburg,  Mississippi,  16 
Vining,    Fanny.      See   Mrs. 

E.  L.  Davenport 


Vining,  Frederick,  127,  128 
Vining,  James,  23 
Virginie,  27 
Virginius,  34,  38,  58,  112 

Walcot,  Charles,  122 
Wallack,  Fanny,  72 
Wallack,  Henry,  71 
Wallack,  James  W,  Jr.,  36, 

71,  72,  80,  86,  87,  88,  89, 

90,  91,  us,  117 
Wallack,    Mrs.    James    W., 

Jr.,  86,  87 
Wallack,  James  W.,  Sr.,  67, 

71,80 
Wallack,  Julia,  72 
Wallack,  Lester,  71,  127 
Wallack's      Theatre,      New 

York,  75,  80,  115 
Wallis,  Miss,  52 
Walnut       Street      Theatre, 

Philadelphia,  10,  76,  88, 

94,    95,    104,    122,    123, 

125,  130 
Warde,  Fred.  B.,  118,  119 
Warner,  Neil,  95 
Warren,    William,    72,    119, 

120,  121 
Warren,  Mrs.,  76 
Washington,  D.  C,  76,  101, 

114,  124 
National  Theatre,  124 
Watts,  Walter,  32,  33 
Weaver,    Henry,    118,    123, 

124,  125 
Webster,  Benjamin,  42 
Wells,  Mary,  101,  114 
Wessells,  George  W.,  118 
Western,  Lucille,  89,  90,  117 
Wheatleigh,  Charles,  30,  103 
Wheatley,  William,  78,  88 
Whiting,  David,  76,  78 
Wife,  The,  15,  51 
Wigan,  Alfred,  27,  99 


Sfn&ejr* 


hs 


Wild  Oats,  90,  92,  108 
Wilkins,  John  H.,  52 
Wilkins,  Marie,  97 
Wilks,  Edward  P.,  103 
William  Tell,  58,  59 
Williams,  Barney,  86 
Williams,  Mrs.  Barney,  86 
Wi.nslow,  Mrs.  Erving(Kate 

Reignolds),  78,  79 
Winter,    William,    105,    106, 

107,  114 
Winter  Garden,  New  York, 

80,87,  ii7 


Witch  Wife,  The,  27,  77 
Wives  as   They   Were   and 

Maids  as  They  Are,  99 
Wizard  of  the   Wave,  The, 

12 
Wood,  John,  57 
Wood's  Museum,  New  York, 

53,  108,  109,  no,  113 
Wynn,  Mr.,  23 

Yates,  Edmund,  33,  34 
Younge,  Mr.,  28 


r 


* 


J 


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